Trying to be the Google of the FINTECH world - Senior Software Engineer American Express Employee Review

2.0
26 June 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work-Life balance, benefits are on par with the banking/financial industry, but salaries are hit or miss. If you sell yourself short coming into the company it's going to be difficult to obtain industry norms.

Cons

They've gone from a relatively cautious, adverse organization to pretend like they're some bleeding edge Silicon Valley powerhouse. Some fresh out of college "consultant" recommendations rewriting the core authorization platform (currently written in Assembly language) in Go and leadership takes it under serious consideration. LOL!!! Really? Again, they're trying to be something they're not and that spells disaster for the "workers" that have to "tow the line" to meet unrealistic demands while dealing with constant reorgs and cost cutting initiatives. It used to be that Lead Programmer Analysts should be SMEs and team leaders that didn't code much at all. Now, even the VPs are expected to be able to write code and pass coding exams if applying from outside of the company and that is just a tad ridiculous. One thing holds true; AMEX is a GREAT place to work.....IF you end up in the right group.

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5.0
22 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Culture, work life balance, commitment to compete, investment, earning potential

Cons

Large company and can be slow to decision

3.0
8 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Complimentary lunch and starbucks everyday - On-site clinic for basic check ups - Hybrid

Cons

you will be taking phone calls every minute of the day. There will come a time where you feel like at the bottom of the world. You will ask yourself "is my role in life to help people reset their password online and assist them in logging in?" You cannot use the bathroom whenever you want, they have time coding that if you "abuse" them you will be flagged and subject to discipline. You have to give world class service but at the same time rush them off the phone or else you are not getting paid a good bonus. You will quickly find yourself gasping for air and time to relax when you take 50+ calls a day , you will feel drained. When is finally time to move up there is a high chance you will be paid less than you're current role as there are no bonuses in higher roles.

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