Electronic Arts

I worked as a software engineer for more than 8 years. I have experienced the culture transition firsthand.

Work is meaningful (maybe because I got to work on the game I'd been playing growing up) and nothing beats the feeling of shipping a world-class AAA title.

The new EA is great for work-life balance. Crunch happens, but most of us wanted to be there to make sure the product we made could be the best it could be before reaching the hands of consumers. Everyone gets additional time off after a project ships as compensation for the extra time spent.

Career opportunity is limited.

Managers are 95% non-technical. I see this as the biggest issue for managing engineering teams. The company should really look at what new tech companies are doing and have engineers report to engineers, with project management separate.

The work environment may be political compared to tech companies in the Silicon Valley bubble.

Keep up the good work. Make changes to treat engineers better. I may be a bit biased, since I'm an engineer myself.