Technology Development Program - Right out of school, ~$70k-$100k Associate - $70k-$80k Senior Associate - $90k - $100k Principal Associate - $100k with no cap
That's not true. Principal Associate has a cap of about 160k.
Also, the new grads make it that far after about 2 years, but only pay them about 125k-130k within that band. The titles are wickedly inflated and essentially hot air though. Most new grads (for example, me) can make much, much more than that at a different company after just 1 year.
People are hating, but It’s a great place to work. I have never worked at a tech company so I am pulling this out of my ass mostly when comparing, but I would wager that the stress levels of the average employee are waaaay lower here and the pay is above average in market (but still below the tech giants by a significant amount). Plano is super cheap to live. I’m at a different location and each role is about $20k higher.
Capital One is 17th on Forbes best places to work list and has been on the list for the last 12 years. You are projecting your experience (which I get), but you having never worked anywhere besides Capital One means your review could be anywhere from “100% accurate with a horrendous manager and a complete raw deal” to “spoiled brat who never answers when he’s on call and lacks self-awareness about his work”. I don’t know you so I have no idea. All I know is most people I work with (especially who have worked at lesser known companies) are huge advocates of Capital One.
It's 17th for card tech and possibly commercial tech. I worked in one of those corners of the company where they toss TDPs when they run out of decent managers for the absolutely stupendously high number of new grads that they bring in.
I did a co-op for 8 months somewhere else in college and really wish I went there instead of ever coming to Capital One. My manager from when I was a lifeguard in high school was more qualified than the dumbass that your shithole of a company put in charge of me.
I regret working at Capital One.
Also, >[could be a] "spoiled brat" Amazon is now paying me more in Seattle than any of your "principal associates" make in DC. That's more money in a lower cost of living area and at a lower level. I bet you think the Principal Associates were overpaid too!
Yeah and that sucks that you had that experience. I had a shitty manager like that at my old company (a different big bank) and it was my first job out of college so I didn’t really know if he was shitty or that was normal. It fucks with your head a bit. I switched off his team and had a pretty good experience there afterwards, but still rank it waaay below Capital One.
That’s condescending. And you don’t have to come back, but for most people it would be a huge step up so you’re doing them a disservice imo.
Also, to address your edit, that’s great that you are making that much money. You are likely a top engineer amongst other top engineers at Amazon. I have personally interviewed there for SDE3 before coming here and didn’t make the cut. Just to be clear to other people reading though on what we’re actually talking about which is whether or not Capital One is a good place to work, I want to outline my day which is similar to a lot of my peers. I work generally from 9ish to 4:30 with an hour lunch and plenty of ping pong. CICD pipelines are mature and I ship code to production most days without red tape. Our oncall rotation gets maybe 1 alert per month and it almost always auto recovers. We get free breakfast or lunches approximately weekly and unlimited snacks/drinks. We get paid on average about $20k higher than similar companies in the area. I can count on one hand how many weekends I’ve worked in the years I’ve been here. Discounted elite gym memberships (think Crossfit, yoga, cycling, personal training for $15/mo) . 7.5% 401k match. 15% stock match. 8 weeks (maybe 12? No kids don’t know) paternity leave, on-site doctors, unlimited sick days and 3 weeks PTO with more added every couple years. We have good relationships with our product teams and they invite us to all their outings and fully sponsored happy hours (sometimes even at the office) atleast bi-weekly. Fully AWS and generally encouraged to experiment or try new things. MacBook pros and whatever setup you want. Also, to be more clear to those out of the loop, the “more pay than principle associates piece” we’re talking about all cash $160k here for 4-5 years experience at Principle Associate which is low when compared to tech companies, but not super low when compared to the bulk of the industry.
@desu hasn’t worked anywhere else to compare it to. Of course, it is not as good as Amazon, but most engineers are not good enough to get into Amazon. Compared to other non-tech companies, C1 treats engineers extremely well. There are bad managers and maybe you got a raw deal, but for the most part people are happy here. Go to JPMC or Barclays and you will see seriously poor management and technology everywhere as well as stress and several month long “projects” to add a single field to a database.
Capital One is a good company, overall. For tech and engineering however, we do not have as many use cases that could warrant a truly challenging engineering project. As such, there are very few teams here that do good engineering work... most teams are just mediocre or below average. It really depends which team you’re on. As mentioned earlier, if you happen to be on a team that’s solving a challenging problem, your experience is going to be great. If you’re on a mediocre team, you will always crave a FAANG. If you’re on a mediocre team with a bad manager, not only will you crave a FAANG but you will also develop deep hatred for the company.
If I were an outsider, I would be very wary of exploring engineering opportunities at Capital One... only because the chances of finding a solid team are very low. The company is not bad at all, it’s actually very good - it has a well established name, it’s far ahead of other banks in terms of technology, and the work life balance is amazing.
comments
You have no idea what a shithole that Capital One is.
Associate - $70k-$80k
Senior Associate - $90k - $100k
Principal Associate - $100k with no cap
Principal Associate has a cap of about 160k.
Also, the new grads make it that far after about 2 years, but only pay them about 125k-130k within that band. The titles are wickedly inflated and essentially hot air though. Most new grads (for example, me) can make much, much more than that at a different company after just 1 year.
I'm just keeping the C1 verification to roast this shithole.
No, it's not.
>I have never worked at a tech company so I am pulling this out of my ass mostly when comparing,
Yes, you are.
I worked in one of those corners of the company where they toss TDPs when they run out of decent managers for the absolutely stupendously high number of new grads that they bring in.
I did a co-op for 8 months somewhere else in college and really wish I went there instead of ever coming to Capital One. My manager from when I was a lifeguard in high school was more qualified than the dumbass that your shithole of a company put in charge of me.
I regret working at Capital One.
Also,
>[could be a] "spoiled brat"
Amazon is now paying me more in Seattle than any of your "principal associates" make in DC. That's more money in a lower cost of living area and at a lower level.
I bet you think the Principal Associates were overpaid too!
I still can't imagine myself ever coming back to Capital One.
And you don’t have to come back, but for most people it would be a huge step up so you’re doing them a disservice imo.
Also, to address your edit, that’s great that you are making that much money. You are likely a top engineer amongst other top engineers at Amazon. I have personally interviewed there for SDE3 before coming here and didn’t make the cut. Just to be clear to other people reading though on what we’re actually talking about which is whether or not Capital One is a good place to work, I want to outline my day which is similar to a lot of my peers. I work generally from 9ish to 4:30 with an hour lunch and plenty of ping pong. CICD pipelines are mature and I ship code to production most days without red tape. Our oncall rotation gets maybe 1 alert per month and it almost always auto recovers. We get free breakfast or lunches approximately weekly and unlimited snacks/drinks. We get paid on average about $20k higher than similar companies in the area. I can count on one hand how many weekends I’ve worked in the years I’ve been here. Discounted elite gym memberships (think Crossfit, yoga, cycling, personal training for $15/mo) . 7.5% 401k match. 15% stock match. 8 weeks (maybe 12? No kids don’t know) paternity leave, on-site doctors, unlimited sick days and 3 weeks PTO with more added every couple years. We have good relationships with our product teams and they invite us to all their outings and fully sponsored happy hours (sometimes even at the office) atleast bi-weekly. Fully AWS and generally encouraged to experiment or try new things. MacBook pros and whatever setup you want. Also, to be more clear to those out of the loop, the “more pay than principle associates piece” we’re talking about all cash $160k here for 4-5 years experience at Principle Associate which is low when compared to tech companies, but not super low when compared to the bulk of the industry.
This thread is a scam.
Do NOT work for this shithole.
If I were an outsider, I would be very wary of exploring engineering opportunities at Capital One... only because the chances of finding a solid team are very low. The company is not bad at all, it’s actually very good - it has a well established name, it’s far ahead of other banks in terms of technology, and the work life balance is amazing.
1. This "principal" title everyone speaks of actually maps to an L4 at any respectable tech company
2. Your company refuses to offer equity
3. There seems to be way too much dead weight at the company
THEY'RE NOT A REAL TECH COMPANY.