Pros: This is the kind of place where you feel honored to be among the smart people working here. Lots of opportunity for advancement and to learn, both formally and informally. Very cool perks, like free admission into any museum you can think of and great company parties. Having a TV studio in the building meant occasional celebrity sightings.

Cons: Long hours, usually worked until 8 p.m., and I was too worn out to do anything after work. Senior management would sometimes tell us that we needed to stop working so hard, but it was just lip service. The culture and the project deadlines required constant long hours. I felt guilty leaving at 6 p.m. There seemed to be a lack of organization at the team lead and management levels, which trickled down to the developers. The open work environment basically meant constant interruptions. It was hard to focus and get anything done until the end of the day when most people had gone home. On the other side of training is the unofficial requirement to spend time training new developers. Normally, when building a team, this is a good thing, but in the two years I was there, I trained five temporary consultants. So, instead of building a team, all that training just went to completing their short-term project, then they were gone.

Pros: Nice working environment: open, transparent, fast-paced. Opportunity to access the Bloomberg Terminal and also daily usage with it.

Cons: My daily routine gets boring after a while.

Pros: Besides the great benefits (health care, snacks, dinner), Bloomberg is a good place for you to learn and to work. It provides good internal mobility if you want to move to a different group and location. The open environment provides both an opportunity and distractions. The culture encourages teamwork, helping the customers. Since there is no title, the management generally is more accessible, and it is easier to contact someone outside your team. It does have a work-from-home policy, and the application sometimes depends on your team leader.

Cons: Like many other big companies, there is bureaucracy and internal politics. Sometimes, the accountability can be poor. But since Mike's return, it has changed somewhat to break down the silos and get in touch with the customers more. The technology on the IT side is not the most advanced, and there are lots of legacies. But there are lots of smart people, and many new technologies are being used in various places.