I accepted an offer from Vanguard as a senior applications engineer. Just wondering what people think about working there and if they plan to stay long term or jump ship in the near term? Also curious to how my offer stacks up to any other offers people have gotten from Vanguard 6 YOE + masters 150k base 15k sign on
Dev 3 or dev 4? Both are senior I believe. Looks pretty good. I came in a year ago at dev 3 senior with 125k base 5k sign on. 5 YOE and masters. New hires get a lot of more compared to same positions who were promoted into it by significant amount as well. Work is kinda boring, lots of red tape when trying to developer (retail space atleast), nice WLB tho.
Dev 4 I believe
Nice. I think it’s pretty good for this area. Most people bounce within the company every 18 months so they can get promoted. Lots of ppl want to keep working remote so I can see some people might want a full remote position
Base is good. What lob?
Line of business? Offer letter says retail systems department
That’s a crappy place to be. You shalll find out
It’s a great place to work. The tech stack is far along compared to most financial companies and cloud architecture. Your TC also looks normal. I’m a Dev 3 making 126k base. That hiring bonus you got is nice though, they’re usually not that large.
Who hires dev 4? Very few ppl are dev 4, most of ppl at that level are tech lead 2 or manager 1 or architect. I am assuming this could be dev 3
Dev 4 is definitely rare but I know a few.
How much is the Solution Architect salary in vanguard and what level ( Senior Manager or Director).
Architects start at specialist L3 and senior are L4+ (Dev IV would also be L3), so probably something similar to OP's offer or more
The role I am being interviewed for is for SM2 or SM3. Is this same as L4 ?.
I hated the guts of that place, politics, everyone is sooo ready to through you under the bus. Alway always be prepared with lots of screenshots that you tested/proved things because you will need it. Very hard to be promoted, oh and at level 4 they will expect you to be over the moon smart and not to mess up from the very first month.
Are you sure? Most of vanguard employee enjoy work life balance and never laid off till now. I agree promotion may not be easy.
Yeah no one gets laid off, just bored to death until they drop out
Thanks for the inputs. So far , the people who interviewed me have been working in vanguard for the last 15 years. In my view WLB depends on the specific team you work and what role you pick
Lots of variables while working in Vanguard. Some teams are really good. Some literally have to invent work. They have nothing worthwhile and just keep doing mindless meetings
What are some of the better teams to join there?
Very hard to tell. It’s a hit and miss
YMMV. A lot will depend on the team and people you’re surrounded by and that’s true at any company. You’re likely to get biased views on blind. I’ve enjoyed my time at VG even though I’m leaving
Do you know if the investment solutions group as a Python dev is any good?
IMO that's a good base salary compared to at least what other devs 3 are making. WLB is really nice. Some of the downside side are politics, the fact that some applications are powered by hamsters, and how people live and breathe for meetings with no clear agenda, lots of swirl and no clear outcome just to set up subsequent meetings for the same shit.
I know some people who have worked at Vanguard for 30 years and are quite happy. You can do fine on that TC as it’s not a high CoL area.
Malvern isn’t HCOL? You can’t get a decent 1bd apartment within 30min for <1.6k
no, you can get an apt for $1k (i’m proof) just don’t live directly in malvern.