Pros
Before Tim left and Visa took over, there was a bright vision for the company. There were rally great people who cared about each other and the work that they did each day, and who tried to make coming into the office an enjoyable experience.
Compensation is above average. Benefits are particularly strong and the pay is competitive if you manage to get RSUs.
It is neat to work on products that are helping to keep payments safe.
Cons
If today's Cardinal were even half as committed to positive change, employee well-being, or technical excellence as it claims to be, this would be a five-star employer. Unfortunately, what you will find instead is a great deal of performative behavior from leadership that is both unprepared for their roles and so self-assured that they fail to recognize employees are struggling, or that leadership itself is the problem.
In public forums, managers present Cardinal as an organization that operates like a family. However, a closer look reveals significant cracks. Leadership speaks about agile practices, yet demonstrates little understanding of what that actually entails. They emphasize building high-quality products, but teams are burdened with technical debt, constant firefighting, and knowledge that is siloed among a small group of individuals. They promote a culture of support, yet engage in gossip about colleagues and push out those who speak up too often. They claim to hire top talent, yet dismiss input from external hires as though no one outside of leadership could offer better insight. They claim transparency, yet difficult questions are ignored or met with deflection and gaslighting. They advocate continuous improvement, yet when engagement survey results arrive more effort goes into dismissing feedback or identifying respondents than into creating meaningful change. They reassure employees that there is nothing to worry about, yet quiet layoffs occur regularly, impacting even long-tenured employees with extensive institutional knowledge, while more headcount is shifted to lower-cost overseas labor. They talk a big game, yet most have little proven experience and make vain attempts to prove themselves by quoting sources they barely understand.
Employees are burned out and fearful. Attrition is extremely high and would be even worse in a stronger job market. External experts once brought in to help drive improvements, coaches and consultants and specialized managers, were all ignored and have long since left. The products are a patchwork of poor requirements and inconsistent code. In short, Cardinal is no longer a good place to work.