Pros
Crabel would be a great firm to work if you are new to the hedge fund industry. The environment is low stress because they are not doing sophisticated development from a computer science perspective. It would be a great opportunity to get your foot in the door of FinTech and not be overwhelmed - although you would have to really apply yourself outside of work to enhance your marketability for that day you leave the company. And they have seen their share of departures over the last year. Several were core employees, not just the 4 or 5 who were just there to draw a paycheck. (Although I question their hiring practices would be that bad). However the company is not very interesting if you are looking to stay on the leading edge of FinTech. The team is easily distracted with trivial computer science issues. For example, several meetings I have attended degraded into arguing over the meaning of Unit Testing versus Integration Testing. Let’s just say the company loves employees that do not think outside the box but can crank out bug fixes and trivial improvements to the existing infrastructure. In fact, there are several employees that have been here for over 10 years who are still in the same role and still not driving the direction of the company. Yes - the company loves employees who don’t question the way things have worked since the company left Wisconsin several years ago, and in many ways it still feels like you are working for a mid-level software company in the Midwest. I think this follows from the company motto of “Humble Roots”. They do have great lunch options, fantastic health benefits, and a great work/life balance - and LA weather is very nice. This is a company that might be worth a shot for the person that is not very ambitious and just looking to draw a paycheck.
Cons
There really is no opportunity to contribute advanced thinking or methods into their system, and the company is not really looking for that either. You might read reviews to the contrary, but in my opinion MUST be written either by management spoofing as a regular employee, or the paradoxical driven, ambitious, self-motivated employee who is still praising management after 16 years (in other words apparently this employee wasn't driven enough after 16 years to advance to management).