Pros: For as long as I can remember, Epic Games has a simple mantra: Work hard, and we'll cover you so you don't have to worry about anything else. This has led to benefits that are better than any place I've seen. It also includes a cash-heavy bonus structure, but unfortunately, it is highly dynamic (see cons). We work on some really cool stuff at Epic, and there's no shortage of interesting things happening around the company to keep people engaged.

Cons: Epic is an incredibly frustrating place to work. The mantra I mentioned in pros only works when the company is doing well. When it's not doing well, the institutional problems are laid bare for all to see. Leadership communication is less than 1 Star. This isn't the fault of the comms team; rather, many critical senior leadership folks simply don't grasp the value of communication to the company. Every time they try to communicate something out to employees, it's a disaster. Changes in corporate policy, bonus payouts, company pivots, etc. They never can get it right, and it leads to mass frustration and confusion across the entire company. It would be comical at this point if it wasn't so negatively impactful. This cascades down leadership teams as well. You have managers that simply don't care about leading people. They would make fine engineers, but any sort of adversity or conflict and they don't know how to navigate it. This leaves problems to fester, which strains relationships. There is no guidance for career development or transparency. As a leader, I have no mandate, guidance, or resources to help develop my team. I still invest in my team in ways I know best, but there is no incentive or even acknowledgement that it's something Epic values. The culture simply isn't there. Last and most importantly, Epic breaks the cardinal rule with employment: They mess with people's money, particularly the bonus. As company performance has normalized, some unknown process constantly changes how cash is distributed to employees every quarter. This has led to massive swings in quarterly bonus payouts for employees with little to zero communication as to why. People who have been rated higher than the last cycle end up with less money with no explanation. This problem is getting worse every cycle and is the number one impact on morale right now. If you're going to severely mess with people's money, you owe them an explanation or at least an indication. The shock and awe approach is devastating for hard workers who are on the record as performing well.

Pros: Great benefits, amazing talent, and interesting problems to solve.

Cons: It's no longer the small game studio that cares about its people. It has grown so large you are just a cog in the machine and easily replaced. This is not the same epic as when I joined.

Pros: I started as fully remote and got the powerful machine to work. Great benefits and insurance cover. Generous PTO.

Cons: Junior level needs to time the hour.