Retirement Company, only join if you don't care about career progression. - Software Engineer II Charles Schwab Employee Review

2.0
May 10, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- You can get away with working at a snail's pace and you won't get fired - PIP is practically impossible within the company - No one cares, so you don't have to either Since everyone is overworked and underpaid, morale is in the dirt so if you don't want to put on a smile, people know why and won't bother you for it.

Cons

- Promotion is nigh impossible without extensive politicking I work within the tech side of Schwab. Promotions are practically impossible and you'll be fulfilling role duties way above your pay grade without ever seeing the promotion (not never, it'll just take 1-2+ years extra). This is the most commonplace story I've heard and why young people (and myself included) will not work here. Not only is it below industry standard, but myself and many others get "cases" made for us for promotion and they frequently get declined by upper management who never sees or interacts with us because there's no reason to. The most common advice here for a promotion? Mingle with more managers so they know who you are. This is not a place of merit, but a place of heirarchy. Expect to be overworked for your role and never see anything for it beyond a Starbucks gift card every quarter or so. I know associate level engineers that have worked here for two years, can define plainly how their work is 1-2 levels above their role duties that Schwab has self-defined, and still got declined for promotions as they require more "exposure" AKA "We don't know you so we're passing you up for someone that rubbed our shoulders".

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Charles Schwab Response
2y
Thank you for your feedback. We care about empowering employees’ growth, development, and ability to create positive change across the firm. We always appreciate honest and open feedback as it leads to a better workplace for all. We’ll share your insights with our team.

Explore other reviews about Charles Schwab

5.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great community, lots of fun events and work life balance

Cons

Is slow and feels like a retirement job

1.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Paycheck comes on time most weeks -8% 401k match is very competitive

Cons

-Raises our very low. The “exceeding expectations” raise has been around 3% for the last three years, which is under inflation. -AI is used as the primary way of grading performance, however the way that this AI grades is kept secret from us doing the work. You can have great feedback from client but if the AI scores you low, you will be written up/fired. - Client data entry and account operations have been outsourced to low-quality processors India. Every single day you will deal with issues because of how much sloppy work is being done. There is no follow up or problem-solving regarding these errors, they are just a fact of life at Schwab, and you need to double check pretty much everything being done here. -Most members of leadership, when sharing their personal story, will share that Schwab was their second choice. They call someone who has left Schwab and then come back a “schwabarang” and many members of leadership are Schwabarangs. This can easily be felt in the nature and character of the leadership where the focus is on KPI numbers and keeping costs as low as possible over any kind of improvement of operational effectiveness

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