Epic Systems

I did get paid well (started at $50k, ended at $92k over 8 years), and healthcare was generally pretty good.

The work with software feels very important. I could see the results of my work at the doctor's office and occasionally in news stories for patients.

Once you’re considered “good,” you have a lot of freedom to decide what you work on day-to-day. (More on this later). A lot of people who work there care about doing the right thing for patients.

HR consistently downplayed complaints of various types, including sexual harassment.

Managers are generally promoted because they’re good at the specific task of the job, not for people-managing skills.

Generally speaking, the folks in charge of setting team priorities are not prioritizing marginalized patients, so efforts that could immensely help Black pregnant people or transgender patients in healthcare were not prioritized.

Because they’re so big, there aren’t exceptions to rules. If there are, they’re so hard to get it’s easier to just leave. (Ex: I got more than 50% more work done in less time with more effectiveness working from home, but couldn’t get clearance to continue working from home.) I had reports to show this, and was still told that it didn’t matter.

Judy, while she has amazing ideas and I do think genuinely cares about helping doctors, is also just allowed to make fun of various employees (men in dresses were the butt of a joke, and a whole bit on euphemisms misconstrued that was common for folks who learn English as a second language). That makes it very hard to feel welcome with an entire company laughing at you.

They say they pride themselves in a feedback culture, but multiple times I and others have been mysteriously taken off projects or initiatives without direct feedback or anything actionable to work on. That makes it difficult to believe them when they say they value feedback or open communication.

Be honest. If you say you value diversity, take actions that show that. If you say you value feedback, show giving and receiving/acting on feedback in a variety of ways. Your mantras and principles are fine—you just don’t live them or follow them.