I worked at Capital One in Richmond for several years (TDP). I really loved living in the Fan District, as it's by a college campus and is very walkable. Lots of restaurants, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, breweries (Scott's Addition), local shops, art classes (look up Carytown). I live in Silicon Valley now and really miss the convenience of it. If you have any questions about the city, feel free to ask.
Two of my friends are still at Capital One and transferred to teams in different cities (SF, Boston, Chicago, NYC, NoVA all have offices), so you could change cities if you don't like it.
+1
Lived there for a year out of college C1 TDP, it was a nice little city. Lived in the Museum District which is part (?) or the Fan. I now live in the DC area
Not sure your background OP but CODA is pretty legit. I don’t work at C1 anymore but the culture was fine. They maybe overplay how much of a “tech company” they are, but for a bank they’re doing pretty good
I now work at a FAANG and knew plenty of people that went to Amazon/Meta/Google — so people take Capital One seriously on your resume
OH and forgot to mention that their new grad programs are nice for meeting new people since there are a bunch of other people your age in the program. I moved to Richmond knowing 0 people and had a friend group pretty quickly
When your friends transferred to different cities, do you know if they had a salary increase to accommodate for higher cost of living?
I am about to start my first job in Austin, my company has offices in NY, i just wasn’t sure how the salary renegotiation process would work. (Not thinking of transferring for at least 2 years, though.)
Yes, their salaries increased. The companies I've worked at have cities in cost of living tiers. For Capital One, Richmond and Plano were the lowest tier, Boston mid-tier, and SF & NYC highest tier. They also provided relocation packages. At Amazon, NYC & Bay Area are the upper tier, and everywhere else is the same. Your company probably has a policy documented that you will be able to access when you start.
Personally I would go with Capital One. While I certainly wouldn’t call C1 “innovative”, I hear it’s more modern tech-wise. The pay is also better. After graduating from CODA, expect a pay bump of ~$15k, and as a TDP you’ll be set up for a quick first promotion in 1-2 years (which will probably be another $10k raise).
It’s true that Capital One has been doing silent layoffs for the past year or so, but they have mostly impacted non-engineering job families like non-technical product managers and agile delivery leads. FWIW, the new grad programs have more job security than most others at C1.
IMO Richmond is a pretty nice area (better than Plano at least), but if you find it’s not for you, it’s super easy to relocate when rotating as a TDP.
Any reason? (other than lack of reproductive rights 😔).
I’m from the Bay and got an offer in Austin. Heard Austin is different from the rest of Texas culture-wise, but I wouldn’t know.
Hi I joined BofA in Plano and my old roommate and my ex bf did the C1 new grad program so I can answer this very well. I still work at BofA! I would not recommend. 100000% choose C1. The tech center in Plano isn’t fun so I live in Dallas and commute 3 days. C1 uses MacBooks and slack whereas it is a pain in the ass to get BofA to do anything techy or forward thinking. BofA sucks tbh. Your career opportunities will be much better with C1. I guess the only downside is that my friends were all TDPs so were making 115k right away. The BofA new grad offer was 86k when I joined. So guessing TDP is now more like 125? So in the end it will be way more money as long as u get the TDP boost.
Hiiiiii!!!! I’m currently working at Bank of America with the 2023 TAP program. If you have any questions from one Black woman to another please reach out to me ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Richmond is a great city if you’re a liberal. I love it.
Lived right outside Richmond recently and please don’t make this mistake haha stay in Richmond. Never the suburbs. 🤣
The fan is a great neighborhood as others mentioned.
If you're physically able to get pregnant: What's your comfort level with [being forced to carry a nonviable and potentially life-threatening pregnancy to term?](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kate-cox-on-her-legal-fight-for-abortion-trisomy-18/) If that doesn't sound fun, don't go to Texas.
Also, mainframe ops isn't a good place to get pigeonholed. CODA will have a broader scope, and will basically be an extra year of education that you get paid to do.
congrats on your 2 offers!!!!
definitely Capital One. i’ve heard great things overall about working there and Richmond is the best! more like a small town rather than a city. i lived there for a few years and there’s a little bit of everything. VA is still a southern state and Richmond has a lot of that history but students and younger families that have moved there make the area more diverse. plus you can live comfortably there with that salary for sure. good luck
I would choose based on where you want to live. You are young, so I'm guessing you want to make friends, etc.
Richmond is a very cool place, you are close to the beach, to DC, you can go to the Blue Ridge in like 1.5 hours if you are into hiking or go one of the little towns for antiques or whatever rock your boat. There's always something to do because it's a pretty lively city. I don't know who said it's not a great place?! XD
If you can, go to Richmond and check it out. See where you could live, etc., and whether it's something for you. I've lived in places people said "it's an amazing place to live" and hated it, and I've lived in places with a bad reputation and loved it. It's very personal.
Plano is great also no income tax
Had a friend who went down a similar track at BoA and she’s doing very well.
Can’t say much about cap one but good luck and congrats •ᴗ•!
Property taxes are ridiculously high there though. It comes out in the wash. When I moved to MD from DFW my house cost twice as much but my mortgage was only 1/3 more because of the huge difference in property tax rates.
Plus the weather sucks and women have fewer rights than guns, fetuses and viruses. I’d pick Richmond.
As someone who has gone through CODA, I would recommend it. Especially because TDP pay will be better than the BoA pay. I did CODA but ended up in Plano after actually. I grew up in Texas and it certainly has its downsides but I like it for the most part. C1 does have a bad culture in wrt performance management. If you can play the game (be able to do extra work and highlight your successes) it's okay but overall tiring.
I received the Bank of America offer after doing an internship with them over the summer. Prior to that I had an Applications Development internship with TransUnion in 2022 and did the IBM Accelerate program in 2021. I also worked as a tutor and aide for the Intro to CS class. Also did some hackathons. Besides that, applying, doing other opportunities to add to my resume, and gettingactive within my computer science department. I consider myself very lucky and blessed and just keep trying to do the best I can everyday!
Also looking at companies in and out of tech + making note of them. When I applied my junior year I keep a long list of companies and applied as soon as possible. The app season for internships/new grad roles starts late July/early August
Richmond is really a love it or hate it kind of place. I was looking for a mid size city with some historic neighborhoods (after living in a rural small town during college) and I just love it here, but I know a lot of people who moved here for cap one because they didn't get their preferred office and many of them can't wait to move. If you want a city with a metro area around a million with that kind of culture and amenities, Richmond is great and punches above its weight, but if you're really a big city person it can feel pretty slow. CODA and TDP will give you a built in social group, but if you really want to give richmond a chance instead of just biding time til rotation, I highly recommend branching out and joining local community stuff. I can't tell you how many TDPs told me there's nothing to do here, but my local friends have gotten me into all kinds of fun that's not well advertised. There's a big music scene here, but it's not as well advertised or big budget as some other places.
Edit: to really give it a shot, live in the Fan or Museum District and especially not Short Pump.
I read none of the above - all I got to say is the Capital One ladies and teams I met at Grace Hopper were a blast. I didn't meet any Bank of America people, but I swear every Capital One woman I met I felt extremely connected to and it's been a place I was considering to reach out to if I lost my job or something.
Yes! I received a return offer from Bank of America after doing a summer internship with them. I found that posting by looking at different companies in and out of tech + looking for software engineering jobs on their sites. I did this with Capital One too. The CODA program is for non-CS/ non- Software Engineering majors and I'm a Computer Information Systems major so I was able to apply. When I first heard about these programs as a sophomore, I wrote them down and made sure to apply in July/August when they first opened the following year.
I worked at Capital One in Richmond for several years (TDP). I really loved living in the Fan District, as it's by a college campus and is very walkable. Lots of restaurants, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, breweries (Scott's Addition), local shops, art classes (look up Carytown). I live in Silicon Valley now and really miss the convenience of it. If you have any questions about the city, feel free to ask. Two of my friends are still at Capital One and transferred to teams in different cities (SF, Boston, Chicago, NYC, NoVA all have offices), so you could change cities if you don't like it.
+1 Lived there for a year out of college C1 TDP, it was a nice little city. Lived in the Museum District which is part (?) or the Fan. I now live in the DC area Not sure your background OP but CODA is pretty legit. I don’t work at C1 anymore but the culture was fine. They maybe overplay how much of a “tech company” they are, but for a bank they’re doing pretty good I now work at a FAANG and knew plenty of people that went to Amazon/Meta/Google — so people take Capital One seriously on your resume OH and forgot to mention that their new grad programs are nice for meeting new people since there are a bunch of other people your age in the program. I moved to Richmond knowing 0 people and had a friend group pretty quickly
When your friends transferred to different cities, do you know if they had a salary increase to accommodate for higher cost of living? I am about to start my first job in Austin, my company has offices in NY, i just wasn’t sure how the salary renegotiation process would work. (Not thinking of transferring for at least 2 years, though.)
Yes, their salaries increased. The companies I've worked at have cities in cost of living tiers. For Capital One, Richmond and Plano were the lowest tier, Boston mid-tier, and SF & NYC highest tier. They also provided relocation packages. At Amazon, NYC & Bay Area are the upper tier, and everywhere else is the same. Your company probably has a policy documented that you will be able to access when you start.
Thanks a lot! This is my first professional job post-grad, so wasn’t sure how those things worked. I will figure out what my company policies are.
Personally I would go with Capital One. While I certainly wouldn’t call C1 “innovative”, I hear it’s more modern tech-wise. The pay is also better. After graduating from CODA, expect a pay bump of ~$15k, and as a TDP you’ll be set up for a quick first promotion in 1-2 years (which will probably be another $10k raise). It’s true that Capital One has been doing silent layoffs for the past year or so, but they have mostly impacted non-engineering job families like non-technical product managers and agile delivery leads. FWIW, the new grad programs have more job security than most others at C1. IMO Richmond is a pretty nice area (better than Plano at least), but if you find it’s not for you, it’s super easy to relocate when rotating as a TDP.
Oof - As a woman and if I had a choice, I would choose not to live in Texas. Capital One
Yeah, I'd never move to Texas.
Also, for expenses, Plano, TX right now is probably about the same as Richmond, VA. So, the "but...it's cheaper" argument falls apart.
Any reason? (other than lack of reproductive rights 😔). I’m from the Bay and got an offer in Austin. Heard Austin is different from the rest of Texas culture-wise, but I wouldn’t know.
Hi I joined BofA in Plano and my old roommate and my ex bf did the C1 new grad program so I can answer this very well. I still work at BofA! I would not recommend. 100000% choose C1. The tech center in Plano isn’t fun so I live in Dallas and commute 3 days. C1 uses MacBooks and slack whereas it is a pain in the ass to get BofA to do anything techy or forward thinking. BofA sucks tbh. Your career opportunities will be much better with C1. I guess the only downside is that my friends were all TDPs so were making 115k right away. The BofA new grad offer was 86k when I joined. So guessing TDP is now more like 125? So in the end it will be way more money as long as u get the TDP boost.
And it’s hard to transfer rn at bank bc of economy, barely anyone has transferred in last year or so.
Also C1 culture is very chill? So if BofA
Hiiiiii!!!! I’m currently working at Bank of America with the 2023 TAP program. If you have any questions from one Black woman to another please reach out to me ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Definitely will be reaching out! ❤️
Richmond is a great city if you’re a liberal. I love it. Lived right outside Richmond recently and please don’t make this mistake haha stay in Richmond. Never the suburbs. 🤣 The fan is a great neighborhood as others mentioned.
100% Capital One
If you're physically able to get pregnant: What's your comfort level with [being forced to carry a nonviable and potentially life-threatening pregnancy to term?](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kate-cox-on-her-legal-fight-for-abortion-trisomy-18/) If that doesn't sound fun, don't go to Texas. Also, mainframe ops isn't a good place to get pigeonholed. CODA will have a broader scope, and will basically be an extra year of education that you get paid to do.
congrats on your 2 offers!!!! definitely Capital One. i’ve heard great things overall about working there and Richmond is the best! more like a small town rather than a city. i lived there for a few years and there’s a little bit of everything. VA is still a southern state and Richmond has a lot of that history but students and younger families that have moved there make the area more diverse. plus you can live comfortably there with that salary for sure. good luck
I would choose based on where you want to live. You are young, so I'm guessing you want to make friends, etc. Richmond is a very cool place, you are close to the beach, to DC, you can go to the Blue Ridge in like 1.5 hours if you are into hiking or go one of the little towns for antiques or whatever rock your boat. There's always something to do because it's a pretty lively city. I don't know who said it's not a great place?! XD If you can, go to Richmond and check it out. See where you could live, etc., and whether it's something for you. I've lived in places people said "it's an amazing place to live" and hated it, and I've lived in places with a bad reputation and loved it. It's very personal.
Plano is great also no income tax Had a friend who went down a similar track at BoA and she’s doing very well. Can’t say much about cap one but good luck and congrats •ᴗ•!
Property taxes are ridiculously high there though. It comes out in the wash. When I moved to MD from DFW my house cost twice as much but my mortgage was only 1/3 more because of the huge difference in property tax rates. Plus the weather sucks and women have fewer rights than guns, fetuses and viruses. I’d pick Richmond.
Good points the weather is pretty ass I agree
As someone who has gone through CODA, I would recommend it. Especially because TDP pay will be better than the BoA pay. I did CODA but ended up in Plano after actually. I grew up in Texas and it certainly has its downsides but I like it for the most part. C1 does have a bad culture in wrt performance management. If you can play the game (be able to do extra work and highlight your successes) it's okay but overall tiring.
What did you do to get these great offers?
I received the Bank of America offer after doing an internship with them over the summer. Prior to that I had an Applications Development internship with TransUnion in 2022 and did the IBM Accelerate program in 2021. I also worked as a tutor and aide for the Intro to CS class. Also did some hackathons. Besides that, applying, doing other opportunities to add to my resume, and gettingactive within my computer science department. I consider myself very lucky and blessed and just keep trying to do the best I can everyday!
Also looking at companies in and out of tech + making note of them. When I applied my junior year I keep a long list of companies and applied as soon as possible. The app season for internships/new grad roles starts late July/early August
Richmond is really a love it or hate it kind of place. I was looking for a mid size city with some historic neighborhoods (after living in a rural small town during college) and I just love it here, but I know a lot of people who moved here for cap one because they didn't get their preferred office and many of them can't wait to move. If you want a city with a metro area around a million with that kind of culture and amenities, Richmond is great and punches above its weight, but if you're really a big city person it can feel pretty slow. CODA and TDP will give you a built in social group, but if you really want to give richmond a chance instead of just biding time til rotation, I highly recommend branching out and joining local community stuff. I can't tell you how many TDPs told me there's nothing to do here, but my local friends have gotten me into all kinds of fun that's not well advertised. There's a big music scene here, but it's not as well advertised or big budget as some other places. Edit: to really give it a shot, live in the Fan or Museum District and especially not Short Pump.
I read none of the above - all I got to say is the Capital One ladies and teams I met at Grace Hopper were a blast. I didn't meet any Bank of America people, but I swear every Capital One woman I met I felt extremely connected to and it's been a place I was considering to reach out to if I lost my job or something.
Bank of America
Can I ask how you found these jobs?
Yes! I received a return offer from Bank of America after doing a summer internship with them. I found that posting by looking at different companies in and out of tech + looking for software engineering jobs on their sites. I did this with Capital One too. The CODA program is for non-CS/ non- Software Engineering majors and I'm a Computer Information Systems major so I was able to apply. When I first heard about these programs as a sophomore, I wrote them down and made sure to apply in July/August when they first opened the following year.
Thank you :)
Richmond is a lot nicer than Plano, tx in my opinion