Epic Systems

• Decent salary for the area. (This is still a relatively low salary now during COVID, as many Silicon companies offer remote work and adjusted salaries that will easily surpass Epic.)

• If you spin it right, being a software developer probably looks good on your resume when you find out Epic isn't the 'right fit'.

• Good at taking advantage of weaknesses.

-They don't tell you this up-front: most of your job stems from a multiple-decades-old garbage system called Chronicles (also known by Cache, MUMPS, etc., all referring to the same essential thing). -The web framework is severely limited because they have to support API and security for said outdated Chronicles database system.

-Despite what the job description says and what they tell you, your actual job as a software developer will be mainly operations, with development, manual testing, and a bit of psychotherapy on the side. -Manual testing and technically illiterate, opinion-based QA, where most companies use software test engineers with CS degrees that understand the nature of the code they're testing and can give a proper report. Here, your QA will probably not have any technical background and will say something such as, "This looks weird, please fix" without consulting any documentation or communicating with other QA. Since you're expected to do operations and software testing (though not explicitly stated), the burden will be on you to identify and contact the correct sources to sort it out. (Again, admittedly, this can be a pro since you now have experience in dealing with this type of problem). -No adaptive or longer-term vision. The company model hasn't changed since its start-up, and they are proud to be stubborn in areas now that are being exposed. They have seen success thus far in selling a fake dream to college grads, though real talent generally leaves in 1-2 years (or even less) once they see through the guise. -"Right fit" is used as a means to shift the burden of bad management onto the workers. When a bad past decision is exposed, the workers affected can simply be deemed not a good fit for the company and be neglected until they quit or be asked to set an end date. -The only people that Epic is truly a proper fit for are ones that end up settling in Madison and don't plan on leaving (see the people on Guru with 5+ years of experience, probably married to another Epic employee, bought a house, stuck, etc.). Otherwise, you still have to live 45 minutes from campus. If this floats your boat, I guess count it as a pro. -They enforce that you live 45 minutes from campus by tracking your VPN (they do tell you this when you start, but don't expect any flexibility in this regard). -Complete inflexibility in policy. Ground rules are respected to a cult level and have the name of 'Ten Commandments.' By extension, any rule can be counted as such and used against you at management's convenience. Again, don't expect any flexibility for anything unless you have proper leverage, such as a new job offer.

These are many nitpicky cons that, in isolation, are fine, but the purpose was to paint a picture of what working here is like. Admittedly, much of my tenure was during COVID times, but something tells me COVID exposed these negative attributes rather than causing them.

Tell the truth. Good people don't lie; withholding the truth is just a sly way to lie.