Bloomberg LP

Good training program for entry-level people. Quite a few smart people around.

Great offices to work in: very attractive, good location, communal kitchen, lecture theatres, etc. The office in general feels quite busy and bustling.

Lots of perks like free theatre/exhibition tickets, events, etc. Good amount of responsibility from early on. Good pay. Good name to have on the CV.

Lots of the codebase is pretty antiquated – Fortran code, old 1000-line C functions from the 1980s, etc.

Lots of proprietary stuff you have to learn that isn't transferable, so you run the risk of getting a bit institutionalized. Also, Bloomberg often unnecessarily has its own little version of something (file I/O libraries, etc.).

Senior management have their heads in the clouds and are fairly political. Many have been there since the dawn of time and have an outdated view of how the company works. They will push through initiatives that they have 'sold' to their superiors, even if they just don't make sense at ground level.

One of those companies (and there are many) that sell themselves to applicants as having a 'flat' structure, when what this actually means is that hardly anyone ever gets moved up.

There is also lots of bureaucracy and a culture of micromanagement – every working hour must be ticketed, accounted for, etc.

You are sacrificing efficiency by allowing senior managers to progress through political means rather than real achievements. You only seem to reward people for 'visible' things, rather than good people management or keeping the team happy, etc.