Epic Systems

Epic is a good “starter” job for devs straight out of college. Compensation is crazy good, the work is pretty fun, and coworkers/other devs are all really bright and intelligent. My coworkers were one of the highlights of the job, and everyone was always incredibly willing to offer support and help when I needed it. If you’re a high performer, your compensation will increase FAST. Everything about my direct job was pretty satisfying.

Epic’s company-level policies are kind of a mess, and at times harmful and insulting. They’ve refused to give anything beyond the bare minimum in terms of remote work, even though employees across the company have called for it and raised the alarm that it’s unsafe for us all to be on campus during a pandemic.

Benefits are decent, but PTO is hard to come by—you get 10 days your first two years. That, plus minimal remote work (5 days, or 10 half days, a year), makes it difficult to travel or visit home for the holidays.

Diversity is extremely lacking, especially for devs. The company doesn’t seem to be taking any major steps to fix it either, and many people’s suggestions are being shot down and not taken seriously. It just doesn’t seem like diversity is a priority for Epic. That might not matter to everyone, but it mattered to me.

Epic tries really hard to make it seem like their employees are unique and “different” from other companies. There’s an attitude that the employees are what makes Epic special, and that you won’t find that anywhere else.

I was scared to leave because I didn’t think I’d find coworkers like that anywhere else. However, that has absolutely not been the case. At my new job, my coworkers are equally gregarious, outgoing, and intelligent, and have more time to cultivate lives outside of work. They’re even “cooler” than my coworkers at Epic were.

Take your employees’ concerns seriously. If you don’t prioritize the things employees really value, they will leave in droves—especially developers. Throwing money at them will only go so far. When people realize they can leave and immediately get a WFH job, they’ll do that.