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Smart developers, mixed management, a good environment, and some bad hours

Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Electronic Arts for 4 years
September 18, 2013
Orlando, Florida
3.0
RecommendsNeutral OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros

Great environment to work in, with good tech and a fun subject to work on (video games, provided you can deal with sports video games). Generally, there's a lighthearted atmosphere when things aren't hectic.

Smart, experienced developers, artists, etc., who you can learn from and vice versa.

Variety of tech, languages, and more to work with and learn on.

Cons

Management is often misguided, poor at planning, causing some long hours, especially during Alphas when bug fixing should occur but feature addition may as well.

Communication can often be lacking, leaving important parties in the dark.

Company direction is not always intelligent or caring about the consumer. They don't think some of their decisions through.

When attrition occurs, management won't say a peep about it. One day someone's there, the next they are not, unless they told you directly.

Moving up in the company is almost non-existent unless you have an "in" with people up high.

Advice to Management

Communication is incredibly important, as is proper schedule management. Not every feature can make the cut. Just because you promised it to others doesn't give you the right to demand your workers be there at all crazy hours to pump out a subpar product. Also, please read The Mythical Man-Month; it's a must for software engineering practices.

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