Lots of Promises and Drastically Different - Business Analyst, Operations Leadership Program Discover Employee Review

2.0
17 Mar 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I don't know what to say here...they present the right ideas to you. I've seen employee reward programs that seemed pretty cool like parties, bonuses, themed events. I think there are some good apples and some very bad. Just hope for the best and you could get lucky.

Cons

Started out as a friendly enviroment. They talked about "just as long as you get your job done" and how "we don't micro manage". In six weeks of working at Discover they fired two employees in my group, stating they weren't working enough hours (which I know was completely untrue with once of the two). They figured they weren't working enough hours based on access card activity, something they said they don't use to track employees. Basically, everything they said they didn't do, ultimately they were doing. This was a job that allowed for working at home and also you were asked to work at odd times if needed (late night, weekends, etc). In two months the job was still going good, but then they retired my boss. Once this happened, everything completely fell apart. Everyone was looking over their shoulders and was the worse environment to work in. Needless to say, I lasted just under six months before saying enough is enough. Horrible work experience.

Explore other reviews about Discover

5.0
18 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are still great employees working at Discover despite looming layoffs due to Capital One acquisition.

Cons

Morale is at an all-time low, integration with Capital One has caused significant anxiety and confusion.

5.0
28 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

One of the most significant advantages of interning at Discover is the opportunity to work with massive, high-stakes financial datasets within a highly collaborative and mentorship-driven culture. Because the company manages millions of consumer accounts, you gain direct experience in how data-driven decisions impact risk management, credit modeling, and fraud detection in real time. The environment is known for being supportive of early-career professionals, offering structured learning paths and exposure to modern cloud-native infrastructures like AWS. Furthermore, the company’s strong focus on work-life balance and a clear pipeline for converting interns to full-time roles makes it an excellent "foot in the door" for anyone looking to build a career in fintech.

Cons

On the other hand, the primary drawback often stems from the inherent bureaucracy and heavy regulation of the banking industry, which can lead to slower project lifecycles and "red tape." You may find that a significant portion of your time is spent on repetitive data cleaning and maintaining legacy reporting systems rather than building the cutting-edge predictive models you might expect. Additionally, because Discover is a massive organization, your scope of work can sometimes feel siloed, making it difficult to see the end-to-end impact of your analysis across different departments. Finally, the current landscape of the industry means that internal shifts or large-scale corporate restructuring can occasionally lead to uncertainty regarding team directions or long-term project stability.

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