- 60% of management gets there by being good in the software or kissing up to someone higher up. Neither means they are a good manager.
- No long term career trajectory in my area. If you want to move up in the company to a VP or C-level, there is clear favoritism for developers
- Work/life balance is terrible. You need to have a very supportive significant other in order to keep your relationship going.
- You have to live in Madison, even if you are on the road 75 - 100% of the time. Frequently people would call into meetings from home or their office because it takes 20 minutes to trek anywhere. For a tech company, this rule is surprisingly archaic with the amount of teleconferencing we have now.
The two bullet points above are the main reasons why I did not go back. My entrepreneurial endeavors ended <1 year after I left, and I seriously considered going back to Epic. However, the improvement in my mental and physical well-being could not be ignored, as well as other job opportunities that had equal or better pay and for 40 hrs a week. If I were to pull those hours again and for less money than I'm making now, the job better be something I was passionate about.
