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Institutional Cash Distributors

Engaged employer

Growth Opportunities - Software Engineer Institutional Cash Distributors Employee Review

3.0
17 Sept 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- New Partner - Strong Company Backlog - Helpful Development Teams - Take the Lead on your Projects The company was recently purchased by a partner with deeper pockets. They are growing the development staff to take on a growing backlog of site features. The company expects employees to be leaders no matter the work experience. This creates an environment where the employee is expected to be the expert on a project. This can be very empowering for some. It also means there is little to no micro-management by "current" management. Just expect to have your work finished on time and you are good. If you have ideas about how to do something better push for it and it will be heard. Approachable management and team members. Strong company culture. Company values SMART individuals and makes hiring decisions based on a personal cultural fit. I have never felt threatened or felt any social anxiety at ICD. Most people are in an agreeable mood and willing to help. Tons of engineering problems to solve and if you are not the solving type, tons of busy work to do. All while collecting a pay check.

Cons

- No Work from Home Policy - No Matching 401K - No Company Stock Options - No Standard Salary/Pay Scale for Development Positions - Salaries are below Market - No "Cool" Tech Projects The new partner wants new growth and fast, but has a hands off approach. Meaning the company is making drastic changes constantly. Cost cutting is happing in all areas of the development. From an employees point of view the company appears to be making reactive decisions verses proactive ones. Company wants new features with the latest tech, but is unwilling to spending the development cycles on it. Any "Cool" projects that comes about will be watered down with a delivery date of "yesterday". Expect to do the minimum but deliver everything. Expect no bugs in your code or be prepared for, The Blame Game. Expect to be the lead on your projects but be prepared to be your own safety net as well. The hierarchy of blame is well established and is the only thing trickling down. The development team is currently making a "Shift Left". This could be a pro for some but could also be a con. As an Engineer you are expected to do R&D, QA, and QE. There are no dedicated teams for UI/UX Development, Testing and Business Analysis. Agile? Yes, but expect user features to be planned that day with very little time taken to flush out ideas. This requires the development teams to make changes constantly mid sprint. There is no established pay structure or scale. Pay appears to be allocated not by ability, skill or tenure, but by who will "work the most for the least". However, I can only speak from personal experience. Despite strong end of year reviews my pay has stayed 20 - 25% below market averages. All attempts at asking for more has resulted in "soon" . With an average pay increase of 3% per year. This is all after the company has reported solid growth year after year. All new hires have been developers making a stack change or with unique backgrounds. I have seen many elite candidates leave or pass by due to salary, the lack of cool projects and/or the companies work from home policy .

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Institutional Cash Distributors Response
6y
We couldn’t agree more! We believe strongly in empowerment at ICD – take the initiative, show interest and we will let you run. Growth opportunities are limitless for high performers willing to go above and beyond. The first five people hired at ICD Technology are still employed here, each approaching their respective 10-year anniversaries. Of our 31 current employees, 9 of them were referred by existing employees. ICD is a growing company and our new partner continues to make sizable investments to facilitate growth in a responsible manner. Those investments have enabled acquisition of new tools to support the continuous improvement of our technology platform and have enabled ICD Technology to double its team size in less than two years. We are proud of our history of taking care of our employees. “Work-life balance” is not just a slogan but is one of our most deeply cherished values. In addition to a standard allocation of work-from-home days, managerial discretion regularly provides flexibility for employees to coordinate their work lives with their personal responsibilities. We currently have some salaries below market; however, these cases are the result of employees being hired at entry level, then becoming substantially more valuable as a result of the education and training opportunities offered as a benefit to ICD employees. In some cases, these employees have leveraged that increase in value to obtain higher pay from other companies, although in most cases these employees have continued with ICD because we ensure that future pay increases – sometimes quite significant – ultimately bring them back in line with the market. In all cases, we strongly support our employees’ career goals including if they choose to go elsewhere. To the author of this review: If you are a former employee, we wish you the best in your future endeavors. If you are a current employee, we encourage you to take advantage of our universal open-door policy to air your concerns. To others reading this review and response: If you are looking for a place where you can do busy work and avoid accountability, ICD is unlikely to be a satisfying work experience. However, if you are looking for a place that will provide a steady stream of exciting and interesting challenges, autonomy and resources to innovate and solve problems, and rewards for employees that step up to do so, you will find a welcoming and supportive team here at ICD.

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