Bloomberg reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(8,214 total reviews)
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Michael R. Bloomberg and Vlad Kliatchko

85% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Bloomberg has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 8,214 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Bloomberg employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

8K reviews
4.0
Jun 17, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Drawing points for Bloomberg: great compensation/packages, intelligent co-workers, industry leader. At work you'll be working with some very intelligent people, some known widely throughout the industry. It's also nice to work for a company that is the industry leader in financial data and news - it blows all competitors out of the window. Depending on your personality, you may or may not like the fact that the pace at Bloomberg is very fast. Unlike traditional software companies, where time is spent on requirements gathering and design, Bloomberg emphasizes time to market and getting things out the door: software moves once a week, not once a year like other companies.

Cons

The technology is ancient (the majority). A lot of programmers are simply maintaining legacy code (fortran, c) that cannot be retired or converted. The company also uses a TON of proprietary software, all developed in-house. For example, they've created their own Service oriented architecture (ala WSDL), two home-grown databases, entire UI framework, and other things. It's very easy to get "stuck" at bloomberg because you might be using proprietary tools 75-90% of your day! Also, there is an entire lack of structure when it comes to the software development cycle. Projects are handed out with no formal written documentation: let me repeat, NO formal written specs! There is also NO official testing (no qa teams whatsoever!). The programmer is expected to perform the testing of their applications.

4.0
Jun 16, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

snack bar is awesome! the building is beautiful, and the environment is dynamic. Always something exciting going on and plenty of scoops. Cool to see Charlie Rose and crew around the building as well. I feel like Bloomberg has the best reporting out there and is at the top of its game. Feel really proud when I tell people I work at Bloomberg TV. The new office space is much nicer than the old building on Park. Also there is 24 hour security so women can feel safe working there late.

Cons

not a lot of women in charge

3.0
Jun 11, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Bloomberg makes the best financial data machine in the world and has a formidable news organization. It makes a ton of money (privately held, so actual profitability hard to gauge) and flaunts it: Modern, glass-walled, open, colorful, futuristic showcase buildings in the best part of town. The company is relatively young, the news division is a mere 18 years old compared to Reuters' 150 and its entrepreneurial spirit is largely is still alive although with rapid growth a certain bureaucratic mindlessness has set in. Pay for news reporters is above-average, but so are the hours. The focus is on hard-core financial news for financial professionals who can afford the $25,000 or so per year for the vaunted Terminal. The famous free food has been replaced by free snacks and coffee for several years now. Training is superior, beginning with an intensive introduction to the Bloomberg Terminal and the Bloomberg Way, the news formula that dictates how all business stories are to be written. Membership is exclusive: those who leave are traitors never to be re-hired.

Cons

In news, there is a huge divide between the top (the editor in chief and his direct reports) and the team leaders and line editors who handle the daily flow of copy. Yet the top dictates everything, down to the last comma and the semi-colon, giving the news a uniform, formulaic and stilted tone. A good place for young reporters hungry to learn about business news, a disappointment for journeymen who are smarter than the top editors but forced to ape the Bloomberg Way.

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