Electronic Arts

I worked in Maxis RWS, working on Sims 3 and Sims 4.

Lots of fun, down-to-earth, really smart people to work with, and great managers.

It's a great place to start your career. I grew a ton and my managers really cared about my career growth.

Good pay, great benefits:

• Schwab 401k
• Health care
• Gym
• Cheap, good food at the cafeteria
• Free games

Executive-level management is very disconnected from what's happening at the studio level. Studio leadership is beholden to executive management and to the stockholders, so hitting numbers on the plan is very important. This means that poor creative and planning decisions early on can sometimes doom a project to long crunches, just to try to hit dates that everyone knows won't happen. And then, at the last minute, executive leadership finally caves and extends the project, which just means more crunching. Morale can be low in these situations. Accountability at the executive leadership level for these issues doesn't usually happen.

Own your mistakes, and own them early so we can get projects on track sooner rather than pushing for arbitrary ship dates.