PEAK6 Investments Reviews

Former Employee – worked at PEAK6 Investments

Pros – large capital provided to traders

Cons – not a clear vision by management

Former Employee – worked at PEAK6 Investments

Pros – Willing to hire anybody on need to fill positions.

Cons – Company is a joke. People get hired/promoted on who they know from the company. Completely unprofessional, company has a young changing dynamic where you will hate your life if you stay longer than a year. If you are stuck up, rich, and uneducated this is your calling!!

Advice to Senior Management – Think less about your individual bonus and focus on the well-being of the company.

Former Employee – worked at PEAK6 Investments full-time for more than a year

Pros – If you have no trading background they have a good training/education program in place. Could be a good place to start a trading career as long as you keep in mind that you will need to leave within a couple years if you ever want to get paid competitively or learn about any facet of trading or finance other than listed equity options. It's probably an OK place to work in a non-trading role -- in fact I'd go so far as to say those are likely the best jobs in the firm (relative to other places you could work).

Cons – Really too many to mention, but I'll make an attempt. Biggest problem is management -- very ineffective, changeable and random. This is definitely not a good place to come into if you have any experience. You will struggle to be given a decent set of things to trade, to get paid fairly, and to become part of the insider "club" that is crucial to your success in this place. If you are competent it would be better to go almost any fund or bank -- you'll be better paid, happier and feel more secure. CEO/upper management has a mentality of wealth preservation rather than intelligent risk/reward and that permeates into lower levels of management as well. They pretend to try new things and take on new risk but they give up on these efforts very very quickly if they don't take root (extremely) immediately. That includes traders, new trading strategies, you name it. If you manage to cozy up to the right people you can get some protection from this fickly randomness, but not a ton. The atmosphere on the trading floor is mostly terrible -- they discourage contact of any sort with outside parties so you will really feel cut off from the rest of the financial world here. Not that trading is necessarily "fun", but more than any other place I have worked I found this to be a difficult place to have an enjoyable work day. Many other reviewers have mentioned benefits as a positive -- in my mind they were merely OK or inline with other similar sized firms where I have worked.

Advice to Senior Management – Nothing I say would matter. From their point of view this is their family money, so as long as wealth is being preserved and their risk is perceived to be small then they couldn't care less about anything else.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at PEAK6 Investments full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – --Very little bureaucratic overhead and process to cut through
--Tons of very smart people
--Fun social culture, events
--Company is very agile, quick on its feet, goes after opportunities quickly
--Office space is very cool
--That rare company that actually IS entrepeneurial, not just SAYING it
--CEO and COO are both very savvy
--If you can excel and find a way to stand out, opportunities abound

Cons – --Lack of process can also have a bad side - no documentation, inefficient manual solutions, lack of project direction, and working unnecessarily long hours to make up for it
--It is obvious they didn't really look closely at the personnel direction they were taking when they got bigger, and they ended up having to lay people off as a result
--Severe lack of understanding for what management skills are - many of the managers (below partner level) are just awful, or at least weak, at managing staff. Some partners as well. Management is a skill, and not necessarily in parallel with technical or trading skills

Advice to Senior Management – --Start thinking longer term not just in your direction of business ideas, but in your processes and management staff

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at PEAK6 Investments full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – great technology, great opportunity, your success is up to you and your discipline

Cons – they do require the hours, but the chance to succeed is there

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at PEAK6 Investments full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Pre 2009 was best place I've ever been a part of. Culture used to be amazingly awesome. Smart people, Learning org, testing of ideas, entrepreneurship.... Etc

Cons – Treating people like a worthless trade Short sighted. Brokerage is really just a way to offset trading gains for taxes. People leave or fall victim to annual February firings.

Advice to Senior Management – I miss the old P6. Microsoft alumni ruined the company and everyone knows it. Hockey teams, Marbles the brain store, etc - good money after bad. Always wondered if Sr. Partners we're paying attention. DO NOT forget the original culture - that was key to success and it was awesome.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at PEAK6 Investments full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Some of the smartest tech leaders and developers that I have ever known. I have the best mentor, I think, on the planet. Always pushing me to be creative and find new ways to solve problems. Always helping me refine ideas. Wants the best for our team, always.

Our traders are great to work with. Having a passion for quality work and products gets recognized by those using them and they know you will fix any issues they find as quick as it can get done. Most work very well with support and development to move products forward. They are eager to get the latest products on their desk.

Compensation is outstanding. Many little perks to make the day go by easier.

Senior leadership will listen to your ideas if you present them well. Most places I have worked, this doesn't exist no matter the presentation.

HR department has been the best. Never a problem getting things done. Will always help you in nearly anything you can ask for, if you ask.

Cons – Direction and focus does change quite a bit. This can be a real distraction. (This has been slowing down as our leaders have recognized this and are working to make changes)

Some projects and prototypes get shelved for months at a time, if they are even picked back up. This is not always bad, but some great ideas and products may take years to implement for the traders.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep moving forward on maintaining the best product direction we can. Help to keep your people focused. Keep communication open as it has been.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at PEAK6 Investments

Pros – Great location(in the middle of Chicago's financial district) and office. Smart people around. Appreciation for good work from the management.

Cons – No job security. Very little direction from the management.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the people who have been serving the firm for long.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at PEAK6 Investments

Pros – It will challenge you to grow and improve
You will be surrounded by (other) smart people
It is always great working for highly successful company

Cons – Praise is hard to come by
Not much time or energy spent talking about what was done right or well

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good work
A little more praise would go a long way

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at PEAK6 Investments

Pros – 1. good benefits
2. nice office

Cons – 1. constant conflicts among groups. people are fired due to politics instead of performance
2. projects are planned for political purposes instead of for the good of the company
3. middle management is made of friends and families of senior executives. They are arrogant but have very poor technical and managerial skills.They don't know how to lead their employees and don't tend to follow their bosses.
4. management at all levels do not understand cooperation.
5. talents are not valued.

Advice to Senior Management – you desperately need all talents you can get. please put aside the absurd differences and for once think of making the company better.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend