Pros
- Job security - company does great during economic turmoil - Very good culture, supportive environment (helping each other) - Company runs training and mentoring for non-engineering roles, encouraging and supporting internal moves into software eng - Continuous learning - internal meetups, mentoring programs, text and video materials and courses/classes and managers are mostly supporting it - A lot of talented people that try to share knowledge - Internal meetups for enthusiasts of various topics such astesting, design, your fav language, etc. - People stick around more than in other big tech, you can see quite a lot of very experienced engineers around - Very good compensation (not as good as FANGs, but still above market) - Transfer to the USA is possible (most likely New York HQ) - Easy to change team/role - No levels - you are either engineer (entry) or senior engineer (experienced) - Heterogeneous technology stack (you'll find your niche) - If you like C++ - they are good and respected in the field - No cut-throat atmosphere among peers - I've seen a lot of support provided for struggling individuals - We used to be allowed to work from any office (before the pandemic); some were using it for travelling around the world with family - For those who are allowed to work from home - it was pretty generous before the pandemic (unofficial limits were pretty generous) - Flexible working arrangements (4-day work weeks) - Free snacks (not meals) - Company is present in many industries, so it has more diversity and opportunity to change career path than FANGs - No overtime, death marches, weekend assignments etc. - Opportunities to do social work, such as teaching maths or reading at local school - Backend is Linux and mostly open source
Cons
- 9 hours work day - A lot of legacy C++ applications with nasty workflows - Terminal frontend is JavaScript, but it's not a JavaScript that will count in other frontend roles (proprietary tooling) - Recent obsession with standardization on Visual Studio Code - Windows "workstations" to write UNIX software (being fair: MacBooks are pretty popular as well). - Some areas are political and with nasty backstabbing - Most interesting stuff happens in the US - Easy to sleepwalk into a dead end if you are not proactive about your career - Benefits somewhat poor compared to other tech companies - No free healthy food - just junk food - Compensation does not match FANG big-tech companies; Bloomberg is not a public company and does not grant stock; cash bonuses do not compensate for lack of RSUs - Too many experienced and valuable contributors move to FANG, replaced by fresh undergrads; nothing against fresh undergrads, but healthy proportions should be maintained. - Recruitment process still relies on external suppliers, providing poor first impression for candidates - No levels - if you are into chasing promotion to L5 or something - Compensation progression is not clear and depends on your manager support and politics; - Situation and culture in non-engineering departments not so great