Epic Systems

Campus theming is crazily impressive, really above and beyond like no other workplace. You need to see to believe.

I have my own office; no cubicles.

I worked hard my first couple years and absolutely feel I was rewarded for my effort, offered significant leadership and managerial responsibilities.

Raises are annual and significantly above American averages. I make a lot of money on almost any scale, but especially as a single person in WI.

Health insurance is high quality and heavily subsidized by Epic. After 5 years, it's free for me as a single person. Don't underestimate this perk; it's worth hundreds of dollars a month.

Sabbatical every 5 years is a cool program: 4 weeks paid vacation, plane tickets to another country, and a per diem while there.

I get to mix things up sometimes by participating in recruiting activities, taking folks out to dinner, and flying to career fairs.

No dress code.

I've had the opportunity to work directly with our CEO Judy and other senior management. I'm happy to say they are universally passionate, driven people who are truly making decisions based on what's best for patient care and our customers. They spent most of their lives building the company, and money is not the primary concern.

Campus food is so good I've only left campus for lunch twice in 5+ years.

SD job where I get to travel, sometimes even internationally. Epic helps book personal vacation attached to those trips.

SD job where I get to sometimes be inside procedure rooms in hospitals and see firsthand some of the amazing work that's possible in medicine today. I never thought I'd be wearing scrubs in my career.

Almost everything is exceptional, so stuff that's "just average" for the industry stands out. Right now I'd say that's:

• The 3% 401k match. Fine but not special.
• Base vacation starts at 10 days and goes to 15 after 2 years. You get sick days and can take more days with unpaid leave (easy to get approved), plus sabbatical every 5 years is killer. But still, 5 years is a long wait. Vacation isn't a "con" really, it's just not above and beyond amazing.

I'm giving us a 3/5 work-life balance, not because there's tons of pressure to work crazy hours. I know there's not on my team as an SD. You control your own destiny. But because it's the number one thing folks complain about in their day-to-day. We don't discourage working as much as you want, so some people let it consume their lives. I really do believe that while crunch time can exist, it's mostly up to you how your work/life balance settles.

Obviously, you need to be happy living in Madison, WI, and don't take a super heavy travel job like implementation if you're not ready for it. Those are givens.