Epic Systems

The people at Epic definitely live up to what you hear about during the interview process. They really do hire some of the best and the brightest around, and working with the group at Epic has been great. I know that I can count on fellow team members to get their share of the job done when asked, and that's HUGE.

Also, you'll have the chance to work in a field that is still growing, and will get to work for the biggest name in the field.

And to touch on what many people already have said, the food really is great. And cheap. Epic goes to great lengths to make sure their employees eat and eat well.

Pay is great if you did really well in school but are coming out of college with a very unmarketable degree. Benefits (especially the health plans) are excellent. Madison is also a pretty nice city to live in (unless you're used to really large cities).

Work-life balance is what you make of it. If you're able to say no when you need to, you'll be able to maintain a fairly solid work-life balance. Maintaining that balance is exceptionally difficult, though, if you're the type that doesn't want to let coworkers down. And given that Epic tends to hire highly intelligent and driven people, it's rather easy to feel you'll let your team down. It can be rather easy to take on too many projects and realize you're in over your head, but it can be difficult to ask others for help, as you know they're likely also very busy.

Culture, while it's still there, seems to be fading as the company grows. While some of the things done there go a ways towards keeping the culture (which, I'll admit, is exceptionally difficult when the company has grown by 1500 employees in just my two years there), others are just lost. This is inevitable as a company grows, mind you, but it is still there.

If you need a clearer career path laid out, Epic is definitely not for you. While there are definitely career paths you can follow, it takes a lot of research on your part to discover and pursue them.

The 'flat structure' that Epic claims it operates under isn't truly all that flat. There are team leads, who have team leads of their own, who may also have team leads. While the structure isn't as rigid as some companies, it is definitely not flat.

The team you end up on and the person who ends up being a TL will make or break your experience at Epic. I've had friends who ended up with a bad TL that quit after a few months because of horrible management skills. I, thankfully, was fortunate to have great TLs in my time at Epic.

Be more careful in how team leads are selected, and avoid choosing them based on the amount of time they put in on a weekly basis.

While I've been fortunate enough to have nothing but amazing team leads, there are friends of mine still working there (or who quit) who told me horror stories about a TL that made their experience horrible for them.