Thread regarding Charles Schwab Corp. layoffs

What are your biggest complaints about working in STS?

My top 5 are:

  • Very slow career growth (which is very funny given that we have more levels to go through compared to pure tech companies).
  • Reviews based on position tenure... you can't get an exceeded expectation if you are in your first year on a position, regardless of your accomplishments. A blanket rule about this is absolutely ridiculous (and probably depends on your org).
  • Lower than average pay for tech (I guess we're on par for fintech).
  • Horribly slow bureaucratic red tape to get any work done. Governance and restrictions severely limit the tools that we can use (I'm always super disappointed when I find a nice tool to use and it's not Schwab approved... I'm looking at you MCP servers)
  • Too much reliance on contractors (which, is probably the same everywhere, but I want to bi--h about it). 90% of contractors I've worked with have just been God awful...

I'm looking for the exit so I'm just lamenting, lol. But I wanted to hear of other complaints.

by Anonymous
| 11 views | | 6 replies (last April 8) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1knapd9dq
Comment! It's anonymous!

6 replies (most recent on top)

The biggest complaint about working in STS? That I worked in STS.

by Anonymous
| | Reply
Post ID: @wy+1knapd9dq

@ax my org doesn’t hire nerds and it’s frustrating. My MD has flat out said he doesn’t trust nerds and seems to only hire for positions at 57 and above

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @b3+1knapd9dq

The NERD program is actually good. ( ex-NERD grad here and left schwab for better growth) The program brings good hires and the ones running the program really work hard to improve it year over year. However they have no control and influence to do things to retain the NERDs and find the next generation of leaders. It is seen as an avenue for cheap labor by most MDs who dont have guts to give more than a 3 pct hike to these low paid staff.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @ax+1knapd9dq

Biggest complaints - i manage a decent sized team so try my best to be objective

Mgmt doesnt want to hear bad news. They sugar coat stuff and delivery is inefficient and slow due to many barriers to execution.

  1. Focus on process over outcomes. Agile focus has given team excuses to why delivery is slow.
  2. Too much emphasis on design patterns which are created by EA who are no longer practitioners and out of touch with tech evolution.
  3. Outsized focus on security and inability ro use AI and cloud to innovate.
  4. People : leaders get promoted based on size of organizations. Forced use of offshore model dilutes quality. No focus on co located delivery teams.
  5. Incompetent MDs who have been here too long and are out of ideas and depth.
  6. CTO and entire architecture org have to go. Single handedly kept our team's in legacy thinking. Tim gives presentations on innovation but nothing really gets used at a company level. Cloud and AI execution failure is on them.
  7. Architects in each team have too much power and all they do is power point presentations and telling why anything different even if its the right thing to do will be rejected.
by Anonymous
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Post ID: @at+1knapd9dq

Project delays and failures persist. Accountable executives are not dismissed. The focus is on personalities and brown nosing, not qualifications and execution. I don’t care and can make them think they’re geniuses while laughing at them. I collect a check and grin at the grim.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @aj+1knapd9dq

Not being an adult and trying to milk the company for any penny

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @ac+1knapd9dq

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