Pros: For the insurance industry, the company does appear to have a desirable product.

Cons: Internally, in professional services, the company is set up so that an employee's ability to get reimbursed for business expenses may depend on the client's willingness to pay. Also, for a company of this size, administrative functions, like payroll, are handled by a single individual. Low quality control in payroll means a huge surprise tax bill at the end of the year for professional services folks, as we can work all over the US and abroad. How many 1, 2, or 10k+ surprise tax bills would it take before you got fed up? That should be a question you ask yourself before joining because this is a common problem, and most people do not have a spare 10k sitting around to pay because Guidewire made an accounting mistake. This is just an example of some of the things about this company that makes it a miserable experience.

Pros: Lots of talented developers. An actually useful review process. A fun environment. Good forums for feedback to management. The CEO responds to email. Developers are treated well. Working at home for part of the time is okay. Teamwork is highly valued. There are opportunities to get trained, and a lot of people form study groups. Everybody is very collegial and helpful; if you ask for help, they won't leave you until the problem is solved.

Cons: No free lunch – it is a bit of a pain to get lunch every day. There is a bit of a separation between the dev and the non-dev parts. Not a lot of mixing is going on; the devs actually work in a separate building. The good management sometimes leads to inflexible budgets. Everything is planned, and if you want to add something later, there has to be a real good explanation.

Pros: Great work-life balance, nice colleagues whom I enjoy collaborating with. I don't feel it is a slave-driver culture, which I have seen in previous jobs. Compensation is on par with the market. There is no ESPP, but we do get some equity with the hiring package. Love that we have holiday shut down, Thirsty Thursdays, free sodas/snacks, and a subsidized membership to the PJCC Gym. I know some feel we need more perks; however, I believe Guidewire is generous, more so than my prior employers.

Cons: Poor people managers. This could be due to a lack of development programs for first-time managers. We need better processes and systems, which may be partly due to inexperienced managers again. Management has been penny wise and pound foolish until now, but I think they have turned the corner and realize we need some investments. The so-called great culture depends on which organization you are in. HR does not report into the CEO, which is quite strange. The CEO is young and not very experienced. Luckily, things are going well. I do wonder what happens if we hit a snag in the future and whether he has the know-how to maneuver us out of a jam. That will be the true test of a good CEO. The performance management process is not really enforced. As a result, star employees do not always get recognized, and weak employees linger on when they should have been managed out.