Interactive Brokers Reviews

Pros

financially hedged against market turbulence because the nature of market making and brokerage business.
Almost no politics. Everyone works hard. Manager is fair and straight in compensation.

Cons

Innovations from ground level employees are not encouraged. The only people that are eligible to do "thinking" are the few biggest shots at top management level.
No communications, no incentive for cooperations. Lots of redundant and subpar work.
Fetish with cost reduction and execution efficiency: penny-wise and dollar-foolish.
Zero attention to employee's career development. No job title, no visibility in the profession circle. They want you to forever work there, which means slow death if the word 'ambition' still sounds good to you.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a breath, put away petty meaningless product 'features', do some visionary thinking. Otherwise IB will be forever stuck with a 'low-cost' brainless muscle executor image. Well, not really 'forever', because labors in US is still lofty and competitors from around globe will catch up, just look at what happened to Timberhill's steady decline.

Pros

- Opportunity to trade in foreign financial market and learn about the market practically.
- Opportunity to learn technical analysis by applying it in real situation.
- Management gave ample opportunity to prepare for real trading by trading simulation

Cons

- Only two person in the firm have real trading experience.
- Do not have a knowledgeable and experienced supervisor for new traders.
- Failed to give a proper guideline to the new trader for example: what is expected to them after the end of a day or month.

Advice to Senior Management

- Should appoint a supervisor who have real trading experience.
- Should have more trading style in the firm to accommodate different people with different qualification. For example: A person who have proper training and motivation to trade by proper analysis should have the independence to trade coming out of the limitation of "day trading style"

Pros

Standard working hours, decent compensation

Cons

Everything else, no job growth, highly coercive work environment. Zero transparency, no formal performance review process, managers are the sole decision makers. IB does not believe in motivating its employees to grow and take on much bigger roles.

Advice to Senior Management

Look outside, change the organization culture.

Pros

Great salary and benefits recession proof .

Cons

No social life and team culture.

Pros

Learn to code ( it is a programing sweat shop) and
Learn basics of finance and trading
Get your foot in the door

Cons

poor compensation
no freedom to be creative
Very autocratic
the place has a management crisis
and a really secretive culture where they dont permit interactions

Pros

Free Lunch & decent bonus

Cons

No work life Balance, Consistently understaffed and overworked. Pay is not for performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Work Life Balance ever heard of it?

Pros

pay is not bad. working hours is OK. good location.

Cons

1, You don't feel like a developer working there, just a typist. Micro management detailed to the level that you don't have to have a brain working there, two hands are enough.

2, Cryptic culture. Developers are often given projects without knowing what's is really for.

3, The culture is formed in such a way that people do not talk to each other, they sit at their desk eating their lunch quietly ... day after day.

Advice to Senior Management

In addition to money, try to be nice to you employees, do not just pretend to.

Pros

1 (optional) meeting each week
Lots of parking, office park shuttle service to train/HQ near train
Free lunch on the firm every day.
Flexible 40-hour week (7-3, 9-5, etc)

Cons

Development is emphasized...so many new versions of product sometimes causes inconveniences for other departments.

Advice to Senior Management

Drawbacks to the "Silo-ed" structure are mounting...what good are local optima? Mysterious development problems obviously spillover into marketing and sales depts.

Pros

Almost zero politics
Job Stability
Senior Management is Ethical
A very competent CEO
The timings are generally ok
Decent year end bonuses

Cons

If you're committed to a stable job with very little growth prospects but decent pay and bonus, then this is the right place for you. For the more ambitious types and non-Eastern Europeans, look elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management

The Company is a one man show. If the expectation is global growth and expansion then opportunities need to be extended to non E European employees as well.

Pros

Opportunity to advance for doing good job, little or no politics

Cons

If you stack off, it will be noticed and reflected in (lack of) bonus

Advice to Senior Management

none