William O'Neil & Co Reviews

I worked at William O'Neil & Co full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Lots of coding. good problem solving experience, and opportunity to work on every layer of the system.

Cons – Very political environment - heavy favoritism. Also, working with niche technologies using niche methods to solve problems, so the skills being built aren't very employable elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management – No favoritism

I worked at William O'Neil & Co

Pros – Good work-life balance, nice city.

Cons – The firm uses scam-like business practices: it uses technical analysis (i.e. heads and shoulders) and a overly simplistic, naive method of fundamental analysis to invest in its proprietary portfolios. However, the it also owns and publishes the Investor's Business Daily newspaper as well as William O'Neil's investment books and guides and online investment advisory services (i.e. MarketSmith, Investors.com).

The books attempt to sell subscriptions to the investment advisory services, which attempt to sell the books and newspaper. Each form of media attempts to sell investment seminars (with fees on the order of $1000+) with William O'Neil portfolio managers. The firm most likely generates more income from these self-promoting advisory services than it does trading. Moreover, the strategies it advocates are outdated and unsuccessful. It essentially uses its owner's past reputation to sell seminars since it is unable to generate returns.

While the owner, the firm's books and newspapers, and the firm's portfolio managers vocally advocate the success of the trading strategies employed, there is no third-party, neutral, unbiased evidence that the firm has generated significant returns. Unlike great investors like Warren Buffett, William O'Neil's net-worth is virtually unknown. As a result, there is no verifiable evidence that the advocated methodologies are successful. Investor's Business Daily lacks credibility within the industry and is ignored by serious financial professionals.

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

I worked at William O'Neil & Co full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Wear multiple hats -- there are many learning opportunities if you seek them out. I was able to work on diverse projects and develop my skills across disciplines.

Cons – Poor management - they promote people into management who are good workers, not necessarily good with people. Management is very short-sighted and this has led to high attrition. Focus on creating the right incentives for employees to grow.

Advice to Senior Management – Give employees opportunity to progress. Really lacking in upward mobility.

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

I have been working at William O'Neil & Co

Pros – You get the opportunity to work with a legend in the industry and learn about the markets as they traded back in the70's and 80's. They paid very well during my year of employment. They are constantly willing to change how the position products to help better win business.

Cons – Employee retention is low. Management is disconnected from modern trading practices. Performance is king. You have to hit your number every quarter.

Advice to Senior Management – Create a consistent message and have realistic expectations of your market place.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at William O'Neil & Co

Pros – Learn how to trade. Don't leave this place without learning their CANSLIM investment philosophy. You'd be the biggest fool for not learning while you're there.

Cons – Not many career advancement opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management – Do a better job identifying talent.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at William O'Neil & Co

Pros – Could be a stable company to work for - there are people working there that have been there since 1980, and seemingly still using the same computer. They also do the bare minimum for employees to be comfortable.

Cons – Promotions and special privilages are based on how close you are to senior management and if they like you or not. People do not get raises. They get bigger and bigger bonuses per year, which management an take away at any given time.

Advice to Senior Management – Recognize and reward the talent in the company before they all decide to slack off and/or quit.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at William O'Neil & Co

Pros – Good pay, benefits, location, good people to work with.

Cons – limited growth potential. programming staff is retarded. promotions only happen if you know certain people.

Advice to Senior Management – focus on keeping talented people

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at William O'Neil & Co full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Founder Bill O'Neil....A true visionary with an unprecedented track record of market outperformance.

Cons – Unfortunately, the current management regime in place will continue to lead this company into further disrepair. Their paranoid and "Jurassic" management practices, combined with lower than industry standard compensation packages, will continue to foster high employee turnover and shrinking sales.

Advice to Senior Management – 1- Start anew with qualified management.
2- Promote an environment which fosters collective wisdom and feedback amongst employees.
3- Build insightful and market leading products.
4- Reward top performers.

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

I worked at William O'Neil & Co

Pros – The best reason is the people. Everyone at WO is awesome.
New projects. There are new projects that are currently being developed, so you're not simply maintaining the old.
Learning environment. Unless you resist it, you will become well versed in the financial markets.

Cons – The office can seem a little bit like a ghost town. There are people, but it's all cubicles. A bit bleak.
Some people in management are great, but some are quite gruff and short-sighted.

Advice to Senior Management – Help provide people with a clearer path on how to be promoted to the roles they're dying to be in.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend