Capital One First Year
Hello everyone! Context: I recently got an offer from Capital One as a Senior Software Engineer with 165K TC and 20K sign-on bonus. I have read a several posts here regarding C1's stack ranking and work culture, which have been very informative as to what I can expect. I want to take the offer despite it because TC and the seniority of the position are considerably higher than my current role. Concern: I would not mind having to start the job search again in a year, but I am mostly concerned if stack ranking and layoffs would be so rampant as for me to get let go within the first few months (also having to pay back the sign-on bonus). Is it truly so bad to the point that the company would hire-to-fire just to keep their core team running? What due dilligence can I take to discern whether I am being hired to be fired? I want to enroll in an online master's program if I take the offer - is that received any badly? I understand situations can vary vastly amongst different teams - any kind of insight or advice would be truly appreciated! TC: 110K YOE: 4 #capitalone #swe #tech
You will only be laid off if you are a bad software engineer plain and simple. C1 is doing silent layoffs based on performance so the bar is higher than it used to be. You cannot just coast. It is extremely competitive because of stack ranking. At the PA (Sr software engineer) level you will be expected to somewhat be a lead software engineer depending on the team so good luck. With that said, I believe there a lot of senior software engineers that should not have that title. If you believe in yourself and your abilities you should be fine.
Thank you!! I was hoping that was the case, and this brings a lot of reassurance.
This place is vocal from the low performers, but the silent majority is doing fine. Dont let it sway you too much
I really appreciate this :) hopefully I can do good work!
If you're a high performer that likes writing software you'll hate C1 and choose to leave. If you like filing a bunch of paperwork and it taking an ice age to get anything done while people that are extremely political climb up you'll be fine but probably hate yourself. You'll justify it by your comp which is just a little bit above market.
What org are you in? If you’re anywhere in FS, you’re fucked. Also this is one of the worst times to onboard as a new hire due to how stack ranking works.
With that TC difference you should definitely take it though. You just have to remember to work hard and you’re gonna need to spend some nights and weekends onboarding in the beginning because you’re going to be stack-ranked against PAs that have been here for a while.
Thank you for the advice!! I will definitely do that :) During the match call, I was told that during the first year, I would be stacked with the fact that I was onboarded considered. Is that not the case?
This isn’t always followed. But if you have a good manager they will advocate for you
Anyone know about card tech authorization team and if it’s a good team to join?
Don’t worry about it unless you struggle at your current role. There’s essentially a rubric given to you that tells you everything you need to do to get a good ranking. Just follow it and you’ll never get below strong because I bet half the people never even read it outside of performance review
Hire fire culture is true. And first year you will struggle to adapt to the company and make impact right away to rank above your peers unless you are already a top performer at your present job. If it's significant compensation increase for you it's worth giving a shot. Success at capital one is more dependent on soft skills than hard skills, nobody is doing very complex technical work, and you know how slow pace tech at banks
They probably won’t try to claw back your bonus if you get PIPed
as sr swe why would you possibly want to do a masters, esp an online one?
I want to do a data science program! I am from Stat and Math background, so I always wanted to get in that field if possible. Since C1 has education reimbursement program, just thought it could be a good option :)