Pros
I joined EPAM in February 2014, and I can honestly say that I expect to be with them until the day I retire. I've been a business analyst since 1996, and I've worked for many different companies, in many different industries, over the years. I've been a permanent employee, and I've been a contractor. But out of everywhere I've worked, I've had more professional growth, variety and challenge working for EPAM than anywhere else. I get to work with some of the smartest, most motivated, customer-focused colleagues I've ever worked with. There's a huge variety of industries and technologies to work on. I've been able to shape and mould my role to play to my strengths, developing as a trainer as well as a delivery professional, and been able to get involved in many interesting extra-mile activities and projects. The support from the company during the pandemic over the last couple of years has been excellent, and I've been proud to see how they've gone above and beyond in supporting our Ukrainian colleagues through the current challenges. Despite all the headwinds, EPAM has continued to grow strongly, with ambitious but careful leadership, and I expect them to continue to in future.
Cons
Mostly, any "cons" are simply the flipside of the "pros". The growth means that sometimes there's (temporarily) too much work and not enough people (which means long hours sometimes). The growth (and size) also means that sometimes it can be a challenge to find the right person, or that there's some duplication across locations. The only real "con" I would mention is that we've had historical situations where the strongly male, Eastern European roots (and therefore management style) have sometimes been at odds with a more "Western" approach and appreciation of diversity but this is continually evolving and improving, and I see much less of it as time goes on. And to be clear - this is more than outweighed by all of the positive stuff. In summary, nowhere is perfect, but there is nowhere else I'd rather be.
