Pros
- The compensation is above average by Toronto standards. The benefits are great, especially if you have a family. - Can lead to a good career if you're looking to transition to the business side or build a career in finance. You have to be able to network and acquire domain knowledge. - Some groups offer interesting IT work, but they are an exception, not the rule. - Nice office for Toronto IT, with lots of natural light.
Kontras
I will preface this by saying that I waited over a year to post this review, as I wanted to clear my head to be as objective as possible, as opposed to vindictive. The technology and processes are unbecoming of a company that claims to be a top 20 global investment bank. This was a shock to me because I had worked at financial institutions that were much better in those areas, sometimes on par with software companies. Some of my colleagues at the time, who had worked for other players in the field like Goldman Sachs, or for trading firms, made a similar observation. To say that there has been a lack of investment in technology at RBCCM in the last few years would be, in my opinion, a vast understatement. The IT management is, for the most part, technically inept. Many of the problems are related to the "legacy" nature of the work, but changing this is difficult because most of the "technical heads" do not have the skills or knowledge to make it happen. There are people who manage rather large technical teams, who not only don't know how to use version control, but also don't know what it *is*. My last manager's boss actually asked, during a team meeting, if "Subversion" would make us more agile. This would be a reasonable question coming from a business person, but in this case the inquirer had a computer science degree and was a technical manager. That person's group seldom used version control, but she was more concerned about checking the "agile" box in front of her superiors (a cya tactic) than actually improving things. In fact, a lot of lip service is paid to "agile" practices; the reality is much closer to waterfall. There is a lot of ass covering. People routinely cc. an entire department in emails, to give the impression that: 1. they are taking the lead in getting things done, or 2. they are not responsible for any screw up. I don't think I've met more than five IT managers who would have got hired in any technical capacity at other places I've worked. The technical incompetence at the top translates into a lack of technical culture at the bottom. You may find yourself explaining the value of version control to "developers" with more than 10 years of experience. You may express concern over people developing, storing or testing their work in production environments, only to be given a blank stare. You may notice that your coworkers don't comment on their work in the issue tracking system, and that issues are typically poorly described, if at all. You may see qualified candidates get rejected because they don't have "banking experience"; yet most of the IT staff would fail, and spectacularly so, at explaining the business value of the projects they are working on. Personal investment in one's knowledge portfolio is an alien concept. The general lack of technical culture is particularly problematic for those who have talent, and have already got the bad habits out of their system (or never had them in the first place). You may be a great hire, but you won't shine unless your boss if one of the rare competent managers. There are signs of change here and there, particularly in Risk IT. But change takes time, especially at a large company, and especially when bad habits are the norm; also, the people who are actually able to change things and are in position to do so may not stay with the company for the long haul. I was not willing to wait, and I left after my employer RSP contributions were vested. My pay rate (base+bonus+stock+benefits) is higher now, though not outrageously so. However, the hiring bar at my current employer is much, much higher, and I work on much more interesting and meaningful projects. In the end, I did not leave because of the money; I left because I did not see room for growth at RBCCM. Bottom line, if you're a good, passionate developer, and you don't particularly care for building a career in finance... think before you leap. There are much better places to work for technologists in Toronto, and in the current market even start-ups offer very competitive compensation, and without unreasonable expectations for off-hours work.