Pros
If you are smart, have good communication skills and ready to work hard, this could be the place for you. You will be amply rewarded. SVB pays above market salaries in Tempe, AZ, however, salaries in bay area are probably inline with the market. Very wide range of useful benefits such as employee stock purchase plan, 401K matching with immediate vesting, generous bonus and good medical benefits. The company takes care of its employees financially. People are very professional and friendly in general. The company is growing so there is ample interesting work. If I am not mistaken, they have not had mass lay-offs at least in the last 20-25 years . They remained resilient through the financial crisis because they were disciplined and avoided real estate sub prime loans. (Only because they got burnt in real estate in the 80s and they pledged to stay away from real estate). The former chief credit officer, Dave Jones, was a hawk so he probably kept them away from trouble prior to the financial crisis.
Cons
People are overworked. It is a very sales like culture. Talkers do better than doers. After years of growth and success, executives have become arrogant and there is lot of politics. Only if you are on the right side of the authority, will you do well. They started the SVB values thing so that more people start drinking the kool-aid. The top execs don't really live by it but want it drilled in the worker bees to create a cult-like culture and increase productivity. The integrity of some of the top guys is also questionable. There is lot of group think. Depending on who you work for, you can be shot down for disagreeing with the boss. SVB has been lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Venture capital investments are going through the roof and SVB being in that space is benefiting tremendously. The C level management and senior management seem to believe that they are somehow responsible for the success of the company. I believe they have little if anything to do with the success and growth. They just got lucky. Now they believe that higher interest rates will make them even more successful. I am not so sure. Higher interest rates will slow down the economic activity and reduce the money sloshing around in VC world. SVB might benefit in terms of higher margins but will lose in terms of volume. Not too many people with good education, not even the senior management has good education but there are a few exceptions here and there. They can promote you to the top even if you don't have a degree (not necessarily bad thing if you did not go to college but are a real go-getter). They are trying to promote more women now to increase diversity. I personally think that discriminating based on gender, skin color, race or sexuality is not the best way to increase diversity. In fact, I see a lot of group think in some departments. If you do not agree with the authority, you are considered a trouble-maker. Increasing difference of opinion is probably a better way to increase diversity rather than discrimination but that is just my personal opinion and obviously not a fact.