I have accepted an offer to work as a TDP at Plano, TX office instead of McLean, Virgina. I heard it’s the better office. Any thoughts, concerns, or advice any current/former TDP/Capital One Software Engineer wants to provide?? How is Plano ? How is WLB? How high are the performance expectations? Thanks. Starting Salary: about 99K + bonus #software #swe #engineering
I thought a TDP was basically an intern, not an industry hire. I just got an offer for Director (aka Jr Manager) of Architecture in Plano. I'll let you know. I currently work at JPMC and talked to plenty of C1 folks before accepting. Generally financial services is very chill. There's *zero doubt* that if you end up on the worst team in C1 your WLB will be better than the best team in Amazon. Performance expectations are lower and there's no PIP culture. You'd have to try - multiple days of no-call no-show or a week not working while logged in - to get PIP'd. Plano is great. Safest city in America, close to Dallas, no taxes. I live in Austin currently, might relocate closer to Plano. Because of lack of taxes and lower CoL that $99k has about $125k buying power relative to non-Bay CA and maybe $110 relative to Seattle. 100k in the Bay is basically poor. 100k in Texas is solidly middle class.
TDPs are fresh college grad hires, same as TAP/SEP at JP. There’s still a pip culture, C1 has a stack rank/URA system similar to Amazon. Probably a bit better, and I think the pips take a few months longer than Amazon’s, but it still exists
I definitely agree with the lower performance expectations. The only concern is that your teammates will also be taking advantage of that perk.
What does the offer look like?
It’s about the same
Why Amazon to C1?
Tdp is a good program for young people imo. They treat you pretty nicely and you get to learn a lot. Plano is pretty chill but unfortunately not the best for young people. It's extremely boring imo but maybe your experience will be different. Performance expectations are pretty chill. Don't worry about working weekends or grinding to get work done. Most teams in the tdp program know you're relatively new and will account for that when giving you work. Never hesitate to ask questions and show interest in your work.
It's bad, keep interviewing
Can you elaborate? Are you in Plano, TX?
I'm a ds at DC every tdp I've met just does LC to leave once they join.
Don’t come here unless you wanna be bored outta your mind
I was previously at JPMC, had offer with C1 that I declined due to $, and eventually went to Amazon. C1 appeared to be miles better than most of the other Finserv companies in terms of pay and tech stack. Definitely better than JP. From my friends who still work there: culture can be shit. It’s obviously very corporate, and there’s forced rankings like most companies. Your experience is going to vary wildly depending on the team and manager. Since you’d be TDP, you live in a bubble the first two years I believe, where your pay and bonus is fixed at about the same rate as the other people joining in your class, and your managers expectations will likely be set low. Because your Bonus is more or less fixed at 4/6/8%(ballpark, don’t quote me on that), there won’t be much incentive to really grind for the high rating, but it also means you’re not going to get pipped unless you’re really really bad - they’d probably let you transfer if it was a mismatch since TDP place you in a team rather than you having interviewed for it.
False. TDPs get performance rating based merit increases and bonuses just like all other bonus eligible associates at Cap1. Highest performance rating can garner 2x the bonus and merit increase of an average performer. An additional perk for TDP hires is if the starting salary for incoming TDP classes goes up, current TDPs get that increase as well. It is true your experience will be dependent upon your team, but it also depends on what YOU do in your time there. Remember only you can own your career.
Why on earth are you coming to cap from Amazon? Just LC and go to a better tech company. Capital One has zero growth.
Don’t have FOMO because you aren’t part of Amazon/FAANG! Because Amazon is an abysmal work environment. I value my life. Amazon is the worst company in the world to work for.
It's not FOMO. I speak the truth. FS, the plano office can go one of two ways. You work on a critical customer facing application where you are drowning in work or you work on the data side and are bored to death. Everything is shifting towards internal tools, the company wants you to create patents when everything is now going open source, and the red tape is everywhere. Just to get a Dev ec2 provisioned it takes a week.
Interesting, I'm a TDP and everyone here is a college grad. Capital one is definitely easier than Amazon and had better WLB, and performance is easier. But it also depends on the team. I kinda got screwed over in performance management (not to the extent of PIP, but I did so much work and got a Strong / average). Some might say it must have been my fault, but whatever. Just gauge your team and especially the manager. You really need a good manager here.
Former TDP. Basically it comes down to what you prioritize in life. There's a lot of dead weight at Capital One so you have a 50/50 shot of getting a good first role, which then affects your differentiators for getting your ideal second rotation (relocation is highly unlikely regardless) At the end of the day, TDP is a great program for adjusting from academia to industry in a fairly low pressure environment. The burocracy, meetings, busy work, and rampant technical debt will slowly wear you down until you're grinding LeetCode with the rest of us But to your point, yes probably still better than Amazon if you value a personal life and mental health
As a former TDP in faang, hard +1 here
TDP?
Technology Development Program