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Optiver Reviews
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Full-timePart-timeApprove of CEO
Jan Boomaars
14 Ratings
Pros
"Good work life balance with 25 vacations a year" (in 26 reviews)
"You'll be surrounded by smart people that know their stuff" (in 14 reviews)
Cons
"The company is all about "face time" at the office, so be prepared for long hours (at least 12 a day)" (in 7 reviews)
"Not many exit opportunities, discriminating between dutch and non dutch and firing rate is very high" (in 4 reviews)
- Featured Review
Helpful (7)
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"Continuous Improvement"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Optiver full-time (More than 8 years)
Pros
I've worked at Optiver a long time. Every year it gets better.
- The company is managed on the basis of principles and values, not process or politics.
- Those principles and values align very nicely with mine:
-- Autonomy: there is very little hand-holding and extraordinarily high expectations of individuals in the company. The company rewards those that keep pushing those expectations higher with greater responsibility and authority.
-- Collaboration: there are a lot of great fights over the right way to approach a given problem. When we're at our best, everyone in the fight has a strong opinion but is also listening to everyone else and continually re-evaluating that opinion as new information, ideas, and opinions are expressed.
-- Prudence: the company carefully evaluates risk/reward trade-offs both when it comes to trading and technology decisions. The latest fads (cryptocurrency, esoteric programming languages, etc) are carefully evaluated, but reckless pursuit of them is frowned upon.
I'll end with a sports analogy. Working at Optiver Chicago is like playing for the Patriots or the San Antonio Spurs. It certainly isn't for everyone. But if you like competing for the championship every year and always pushing yourself to be better, there's no better team to join.Cons
If the company values do not align with yours, you will find it an increasingly frustrating place to work. Honestly, just read the cons from other posts and you can see how that plays out. If you find the principles above strange, out of fashion, or backwards, you'll agree with other people's cons. If you think those principles are refreshing, you will have a hard time coming up with many cons.
Advice to Management
Keep preaching principles, keep ensuring the best people are happy, keep pushing us to ever higher standards, and don't worry about the noise from people who should be playing for a different team anyway.
Optiver 2018-05-18 07:47 PDT ![Optiver Logo]()
"Nice Job"
StarStarStarStarStarPros
Was really really really good
Cons
no cons really was great
Optiver 2018-10-08 12:53 PDT![Optiver Logo]()
"Best company I've ever worked at"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Optiver full-time
Pros
Great culture, smart and friendly co-workers, competitive salary
Cons
Cannot think of any
Optiver 2018-10-02 07:38 PDTHelpful (2)
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"Trader"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Optiver full-time
Pros
Great collaborative culture and friendly colleagues. Optiver is the best market maker on many markets.
Cons
Being on certain teams means easier to get a good review.
Advice to Management
Try to give roughly same ratings across teams.
Optiver 2018-07-31 13:13 PDTHelpful (1)
![Optiver Logo]()
"Good starter job"
StarStarStarStarStarI worked at Optiver full-time
Pros
Good job for new grad, decent starting salary and opportunity to learn.
Cons
Growth ceiling after first couple years and bad management.
Optiver 2018-08-15 11:35 PDTHelpful (14)
![Optiver Logo]()
"Go to Akuna or Citadel instead"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at Optiver full-time (More than a year)
Pros
free food
free coffee
weekly massage
good 401k matchingCons
1. senior management is made up of a bunch of cronies who are put in charge because of an old boys club mentality
2. Younger people see the obvious lack of meritocracy and are leaving for competitors, 5-6 young people have left Optiver for Citadel/Jane Street/Akuna in the last 2 years but not a SINGLE person has come from those firms to Optiver, that should be an obvious red flag to anyone thinking of joining
3. More than 70% of interns who accepted a return offer have quit within the first 10 months of joining
4. Seniority is valued over talentAdvice to Management
leave
Optiver 2018-06-14 22:37 PDTHelpful (8)
![Optiver Logo]()
"Great for the right type of person. Bad otherwise."
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendPositive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Optiver full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Fantastic perks.
Brilliant coworkers, smartest group of people I've ever been around.
Bonuses have been great in recent years.
Work can be quite interesting and there is no red tape in between you and getting your ideas out there and implemented if they show promise. I've seen new employees hit the ground running and make significant contributions quickly.
Great trader training program.
If you are very motivated (or a genius, although I've seen some really smart people get cut) you can do really well for yourself here.
Decent hours relative to some firms in the industry, although you can get better hours elsewhere.Cons
Lots of pressure to always be on top of your game. They will not hesitate to cut you if you can't keep up with management's standards.
A sizable portion of your compensation is determined by your individual performance, where the standards of judgement can be unclear. Management, who is responsible for this, clearly plays favorites (usually the top performers, but not necessarily). They are also very unforgiving when you make mistakes or need help to get something done. The management claims there is no stack ranking, but you're performance will be measured up against your peers come review time.
Not much meaning behind your hard work other than making more $$$ if you care about that sort of thing, so you will need to find motivation elsewhere. Guess it comes with the territory.
I've seen certain members of management lash out and/or demean certain employees.
Abysmal profit sharing/bonus scheme relative to other firms in the industry, especially for dev roles. Skews very heavily towards the top who's contributions are not clear. That being said, pay is still great for junior and senior employees alike.
Usually not something thats brought up, but a large group of the particular type of brilliant person that Optiver attracts can get annoying or frustrating sometimes if you don't fit in well. Big egos, pretentious personalities.Optiver 2018-03-31 16:28 PDTHelpful (5)
![Optiver Logo]()
"They have great perks because they don't want you to stop working"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Optiver full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Transit reimbursement, paid health / dental, weekly massages, in-office barista, catered breakfast and lunch
Cons
Long hours are expected, management doesn't allow for mistakes, there is a lot of pressure
Advice to Management
Stop setting your employees up for failure. Have more frequent performance reviews, as well as clearly defined goals. HR should also be involved more if an employee is not living up to company standards.
Optiver 2018-03-26 20:51 PDTHelpful (1)
![Optiver Logo]()
"awesome employer"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsApproves of CEOPros
pretty good worklife balance
Cons
no need to mention cons
Optiver 2018-02-09 16:05 PSTHelpful (2)
![Optiver Logo]()
"Great place to work"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Optiver full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
Lots of Intelligent folks
Interesting problems to solve
Good work life balance with 25 vacations a year
Casual dressing
Good Food
Fast growthCons
Compensation can be more fair
Advice to Management
Allocation of profit pool can improve
Encourage people who are doing good work
Discourage people who are not doing any workOptiver 2018-01-19 20:36 PST
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