analyst

business analyst

financial advisor

associate

assistant vice president

AllianceBernstein

AllianceBernstein. It's Fortune 500, so you would have a certain level of expectations. But you should know...

The company is very cheap. Not only are most positions contracted out, but they cut departments that are already short-staffed, continuously try to haggle wages lower, and do a lot of sourcing from offshore (Middle East).

The company cannot keep their "talent." The best employees move on to something better. They leave AB for a better work environment, for better pay, and sometimes even for better (useful) experience. Unfortunately, the worst employees are the ones that last. People don't often get fired, and it seems the stupider you are the faster you get promoted.

People are not the nicest or most helpful. Many departments don't want to help their coworkers. My dept. interacts with many teams and they are always quick to refuse support or even offer advice. This brings me to my next point.

Things are always broken and AB doesn't care to fix them. Technically speaking, applications don't work. Period. Errors, disconnections, unexpected software behavior, applications not opening. This is all normal. AB really likes to have offshore developers (and some State-side) create company-specific software, but it just doesn't work. I wonder if this correlates with the company being cheap.

Management is a joke. I can only speak for my dept., but the manager is terrible, egotistical, nonconstructive, reclusive, and a liar. AB keeps (him/her) because (he/she) is able to keep the contract cheap. Ironically, the manager gets paid four times as much money to do four times less work.

But I can truly say that if these points don't bother you, and you have substantial patience, and need to build experience, then this is a decent place for you. At least until you find the next opportunity.

... Also, there are free drinks and snacks.

AllianceBernstein. It's Fortune 500, so you would have a certain level of expectations. But you should know...

The company is very cheap. Not only are most positions contracted out, but they cut departments that are already short-staffed, continuously try to haggle wages lower, and do a lot of sourcing from offshore (Middle East).

The company cannot keep their "talent." The best employees move on to something better. They leave AB for a better work environment, for better pay, and sometimes even for better (useful) experience. Unfortunately, the worst employees are the ones that last. People don't often get fired.

People are not the nicest or most helpful. Many departments don't want to help their coworkers. My dept. interacts with many teams and they are always quick to refuse support or even offer advice. This brings me to my next point.

Things are always broken and AB doesn't care to fix them. Technically speaking, applications don't work. Period. Errors, disconnections, unexpected software behavior, applications not opening. This is all normal. AB really likes to have offshore developers (and some State-side) create company-specific software, but it just doesn't work. I wonder if this correlates with the company being cheap.

Management is a joke. I can only speak for my dept., but the manager is terrible, egotistical, nonconstructive, reclusive, and a liar. AB keeps (him/her) because (he/she) is able to keep the contract cheap. Ironically, the manager gets paid four times as much money to do four times less work.

But I can truly say that if these points don't bother you, and you have substantial patience, and need to build experience, then this is a decent place for you. At least until you find the next opportunity.

... Also, there are free drinks and snacks.

The worst that I have seen for cult-like company that wants to brainwash you into thinking that it is the greatest thing in the world, when in reality, among the entire sociopathic culture of wealth management, is one of the most mediocre, poorly managed, horrifically lead companies I have ever seen.
After you get hire, you go through 90 days of training, that after the first week, you realize is more like an indoctrination.
The main point should be that if you want to call yourself a Financial Advisor, it should be after years of experience and certifications, not after a 90 days course in how to “sell to rich people”
You will see people not even capable of understanding or explaining the most basic concepts of economics or investing going out and trying to sell “financial advise”…
Horrible culture driven by the insiders and politics.
Only operates with “internal products” which are nothing more than glorified mutual funds with abysmal performance.
Management has a habit of driving you like a drill until you burn out, and then take for themselves any accounts that you were able to close.
Not to mention, you really need to be a sociopath and have no conscience whatsoever in order to sell this like premier services and get people to invest their hard earn money and be trapped inside because it becomes extremely expensive to leave.
Save your sanity, work some place else.

Bernstein was a good experience but I would recommend it for highly competitive people, particularly single twenty-somethings who are able to devote an unlimited amount of time to their career. Their standards are high, and there is not a lot of consideration for a life outside of the office.  It was fairly common to hear people express surprise at any colleagues who had the audacity to 'take a lunch hour" or go out for a coffee break. Considerations such as being unable to come into work during a snow storm, or staying home to care for a sick child, were virtually non-existent. It was not uncommon to be held responsible for things that occurred in your department while you were out on leave, or for certain employees to be held to different standards than other employees.  And woe to the person who fell out of favor!  If they wanted to get rid of you, they would "find" things you'd done wrong, even if they had to go back several years, and even if you'd never been given constructive feedback about those supposed performance issues before. However, their investment process is sound, they do tend to hire good quality people, and I made some of the best friends of my life while working there.

A typical day at work consisted of reviewing nightly exception reports and working on multiple projects. I started working at Alliance Bernstein as part of the production team and as my experience grew I was provided more responsibilities. I was a senior member of a non production team which focused on security data projects which required us to meet with our internal clients and our technology team in order to gather required data and implement a project via business plan based on our client’s needs. The hardest part of the job was trying to decipher what a client was requesting if the requirement wasn't clear, often the data requested was already part of our Quality assurance process and simply needed additional mapping. I mostly enjoyed the exposure I experienced within the various departments in the firm such as Client Reporting, Compliance, Fixed income trading and Derivatives because it provided me with the opportunity to learn how each department functions and how they relate to one another.

Ran the day to day operations with a staff of 10 analysts.  Dealt with different product areas on a daily basis.  I learned that when you expect management to have your back in the best and worse of times, it's nothing but a bunch of bull.  Management took care of the one's they favored and everyone else got screwed.  When the former CEO was forced out and the layoffs started, that's when things got worse.  Trying to run daily production was a nightmare especially when you had management in a constant power struggle and the staff morale was low.  The best of times were before the current CEO.  No one was trying to outsource your job to India or some other third world country, or trying to sell off as much of the business as possible.  When the minion's salaries are frozen and not receiving bonuses even though they are the one's putting in 110% THEN the papers had the new CEO buying a Park Ave penthouse and he's getting paid some ridiculous salary to strip down the company as much as possible, let's just say he's not the popular person at the party.

Over Eight years of comprehensive & in-depth experience in the Information Technology industry in Performing Manual and Automated Testing
•	Experience in Quality Assurance and testing of Client, Server and Web Applications
•	Expertise in Automation testing using QTP with VB Scripting
•	Strong experience in performing different types of testing including System Testing, Functional Testing, Integration Testing, Regression Testing, Unit Testing and Database Testing 
•	Hands-on experience in testing applications in UNIX environment, Backend testing using database platforms like Oracle and SQL Server
•	Expert in creating test plans and writing/running automated test scripts to pinpoint software defects, track bugs, close open defects and validate functionality
•	Good understanding of different Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models and QA Methodologies
•	Experience in tracking testing project tasks to ensure all deliverables are completed per deliverable guidelines and submitted on their due dates
•	Experience in use of Mercury Quality Center, Quick Test-Pro, Test Director, Win Runner

Typical day at work: balanced our portfolios; morning call to prepare for trading day. Managed/traded portfolios. Managed cash. Conference call to NY to provide daily product updates. Compliance updates for our accounts. Assisted Portfolios Managers with additional account and/or stock information. I learned a great deal about managing a portfolio - I worked side by side with Portfolio Managers. I also knew from bottom up how to be a good APM. I started as an Admin - I knew how to reconcile, client servicing, client reporting, etc. The hardest part of the job was to triple check every trade. Even if busy, stay focused and methodical. Make sure every trade completed was executed correctly. The most enjoyable part of the job was being part of a team - a team that included amazing people (inside and outside of the office).

AB is completely stuck in the 80s. The company holds on to its active management approach and has not yet understood that investment products are no longer sold through bank branches. It praises its culture as being "great" and very inclusive, but in reality there is one single way of getting things done at AB. And if you happen to prefer, or even follow, a different process than their chosen one you are deemed too stupid to understand the "correct" approach. 

Furthermore, the company has never heard of neurodiversity. When I came out as autistic the feedback was "We can't give you a full pass on that. You need to work on your social skills. But don't worry, we'll help you!". My autistic traits were then listed as development areas in my year-end appraisal and constantly pointed out to me. 

I strongly recommend to stay away from this firm.

I would look at this position as more of a job as opposed to a career.  Not much room for advancement, most people who work there will be in the same position for 10+ years with maybe a few small raises in between.  Their philosophy is that they "run lean" which translates into, you'll do multiple department jobs but be compensated for yours only.  It literally took an act of congress to get a raise.  The last supervisor we had was an extreme micro-manager.  Many of the processes were repetitive and unnecessary however, when brought up to management, they did not seem to have a concern nor provide reasoning.  AB is a decent place to work at if you're at a point in your career where you just want to do your job and go home and are satisfied with your paycheck.  If you have any ambition or ideas of your own, it may not be the place for you.

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