Bloomberg LP

I've been at Bloomberg for over 10 years, and I've moved within a few groups inside the company. Even after all this time, I'm amazed how well this company treats its employees. The work here is extremely challenging and interesting, and the work-life balance is beyond par. The benefits are triple-A.

Everyone leaves at 5:30 PM. Not only is it encouraged to rest, but you are also more productive and focused when you can enjoy life outside the company and not be in a pressure cooker.

Bloomberg is moving at a very rapid pace towards bleeding-edge technologies (open source stacks, C++17, Python, Scala, AI, ML, etc.), and every project is a new learning opportunity. Employees are given a lot of freedom to explore coding and excel at what they like. Everyone is encouraged nowadays to switch to personal laptops, which are top-of-the-line MacBook Pros. I've never seen this company cut corners on quality or on its commitment to the well-being of its employees.

If you get bored or start stagnating within a group, you are encouraged to move elsewhere in the company and play with different gadgets. Bottom line: the perks are incredible, and the company really invests in its people. The quality of its products is absurdly good, and it's only possible when you have a well-tuned engineering machine. All this trickles down from Mike Bloomberg himself, who, as anyone has seen during the election campaign, is beyond reproach as a human being.

If you get a chance to interview and are offered a position here, don't go elsewhere. This is not a backstabbing culture like in other companies. Reviews are very open, and each developer is always given enough feedback for their work. Managers are also reviewed by their subordinates, and it's completely anonymous, so it works very well to keep everyone in check. Nobody is above the law here and can get away with abusing others.

Not too many cons, except that total compensation can be a little bit lower than other banks. This is however balanced by a higher than normal base salary. With the stability that this company brings, it's great if you are a family person and need to rely on a constant stream of income.

The second negative stems a bit from the first one. Because the company is so stable, many employees become "lifers," especially in upper management, and it becomes hard to raise in ranks as nobody above you leaves. Some of these lifers end up sitting on their former glory laurels, and it's no longer a meritocracy like in the lower ranks.

Have TLs and mid-level managers roll up their sleeves more. Recognize talent when you see it and promote engineers more often.