Pros
For those without experience, who are willing and able to commit over 2 years to FDM, you will be exposed to good technical training in a variety of programming languages and practical training. IF you are lucky, you may even get a good placement in a role you desire at a great firm which could be a great start to your career. Trainers are genuine and very nice. Trainees are like yourselves and you can make many friends like I did. If you feel like you absolutely cannot find work elsewhere and can gamble just over 2 years of the start of your career, FDM could be a great potential start for you.
Cons
Let's establish something that FDM very hesitantly talks about... this is a gamble. You have ZERO guarantee over a few major issues during your employment with FDM. 1- You may not get placed 2- You can get placed with any firm (good or bad) and you have ZERO say in the matter 3- You may not get a role you want and again have ZERO say in the matter 4- You can be placed anywhere in the UK and have ZERO say in the matter They are under ZERO obligation to place you anywhere you desire but they will however tell you that they will "try". Paraphrasing from an FDM employee, "Consultants cannot pick and choose where they want to go, our business model is demand and supply and thus you are obligated by contract, to go forward for ANY and ALL roles you are put forward for". To summarise, it is a complete gamble where you will be placed, (both firm AND location). Many friends of mine have been placed far from their homes forcing them to move to do roles they hate for up to 2 years. Essentially obliterating the career path they had in mind. IF you decline, you WILL be charged £20,000 training fees (or potentially more if you had additional training, some consultants have been and are liable for £35k+ training fees due to the courses they took, these costs incurred over only 2 months). One of the biggest faults of FDM, is that Account Managers (the people who place you), have no incentive to care about where you are placed. They don't need to worry about FDM consultants leaving, or being unhappy as if they leave, they are charged with an extortionate amount of money, £20,000 which for recent graduates like ourselves, is near impossible to pay off. Many consultants like myself, have seen this first hand. The account managers are nice up to the point you have been placed, then they act like they don't even know you, and if you question the role or try to get out of the role, you are sent to HR or management to have a "chat" about how you are obligated to go for the role. The majority of account managers care about one thing only, their commission for getting you placed. The entire business model in my opinion is completely unethical. Why care about the trainee when you can put a £20k+ leash on them instead? Training is 2+ months long and UNPAID... if you are paying rent, especially in London, I hope you have deep pockets... Conclusion: FDM is a gamble, you could be placed somewhere great, or you could be placed somewhere terrible, or you might not be placed at all wasting a huge amount of time. Account managers don't care about you and as a result, I would argue that from my experience, 50-60% of consultants end up in a desired placement. Too many of my friends have been threatened by management with the £20k+ fee, this is completely unethical and unwarranted and is not done so by other professional companies who train employees and do not charge them with anything should they choose to leave.