Should I consider Fannie Mae?

[Anonymous]

I was offered an System Engineer job at Fannie Mae. Currently I work at Capital One but I don't like the culture and work life balance there. Searching these forums I have seen some bad reviews related to Fannie Mae, but they are a year old. Is Fannie Mae still a bad place to work? Do people still have job security concerns in that place? Any tips are much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

No no no. I've consulted at both and Fannie Mae has a miserable culture. If you dislike capital one, there's no way you'll prefer Fannie Mae.

[Anonymous]

I thought capital one was a great place to work?

[Anonymous]

Where I landed its great if you are Indian or fresh graduate. Else you are alone in a shark tank. There other places that I hear are good but I can't move yet. I am talking about the IT side of course.

[Anonymous]

Former Fannie employee. I left to go elsewhere, but many of my colleagues went to Capital One and at the time (~3 years ago), that was considered a much better place to be than FNM. While I think in general the GSEs will be around for a long time, if not forever - if your goal is to stay there long term and not just, say, 1-2 years, I would not go there unless it was a job in the front office. Many other jobs are at risk of being outsourced. Especially IT.

Also, regarding culture - Fannie Mae is still very much "old school". I've seen posts here on DCUM about how great of a place Capital One is to work - lots of telework/flexibility, tons of vacation because no one keeps track so you can take as much as you want (?). Obviously I don't know if it's true since I don't work there myself, but if it is, then it's very different than FNM. There is some flexibility but generally no regular telework arrangements, and they most definitely keep track of your vacation time (you have to submit a time sheet every two weeks). From everything I've heard about Capital One, if you don't like it there you are not likely to want to be at Fannie Mae (again, if your goal is long term, 1-2 years to then jump into another opportunity might be fine).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought capital one was a great place to work?

Isn't that where you have to test in? That culture turns me off.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the replies. Very insightful information.

[Anonymous]

Fannie Mae is really 2 companies.

On the "business" side , life is good. There is good work life balance, the company is booming making billions a year. the gov does not know what to do with them but doesn't want to upset the cash cow.

On the IT side, it is Bangalore. Filled with Indians that were/are H1B. If you are Indian, you will fit right in, if not, don't go. There is a big sub-culture of south Indians that work the recruiters/h1bs to get their friends in the company. People go back to India for 4 week trips.