Pros: Despite the title, it is a good place to work if you fit the following profile: * In product development * Can grow your career on your own, without help. * You highly value your family or social life, so the flexible low-pressure environment is attractive. * Want to have smart people working with you as peers. Read more about this in other reviews.

Cons: While our CEO, in direct interactions, treats us with respect, he does not enforce this with his VPs and Directors. Therefore, company culture and values vary highly from department to department. We are clearly valued based on our role, which makes sense in some regard. Due to inconsistent values and culture, however, this plays out as an extreme here. The lowest paid roles are valued at nearly zero. Stock may be non-existent. So, you may want to consider working as a sales clerk at your nearest mall instead. Management training has started recently, but they aren't too far along, so don't expect help from management generally. Providing career growth is still on the backlog and is not yet a serious priority for HR. Why does this matter? Because Guidewire generally hasn't invested in career growth; they don't know what they have. So, as they need more specialists, they hire them in and lay off the employees that want to grow but haven't had any guidance. Rinse, repeat. As stated before, this varies by department. Our CEO and VPs are generally not experienced people managers and don't always realize the impact their decisions make on their teams. This all varies widely by department. Product development is a great place to work! I don't know about Sales or Professional Services. If you are both non-technical and non-customer facing, though, seriously consider other opportunities.

Pros: Guidewire has been a great place to work. Before it went public, the compensation package was great; most who joined before the IPO got a pretty good deal. It's still a really nice place to work. The focus on rationality, integrity, and collegiality is really rewarding. I like feeling empowered/encouraged to help our customers succeed. It's also a rewarding industry: we do something that matters to the social fabric. Insurance is a key part of encouraging the kind of risk-taking that makes America great. There is room to make a difference. The company is now an entrenched player and will be stable for decades to come.

Cons: The only real con is that pay and other comp factors are now lagging the industry. That's partly made up for by some of the fringe benefits (e.g., no death marches), but there are a growing number of places where you can get those fringe benefits and a stronger pay package. Guidewire has unfortunately also taken a path of overrewarding at the top. People who have almost nothing to do with the success of the company are getting massive stock packages, while the people who build the products that make all the money get very little.

Pros: The company is turning the corner to adopt the latest technology stack. Real software, large scale, large customer base, agile processes - isn't that what we use to justify that we know how to build software? Because to me, real software is more than just prototyping on a greenfield. Stability. I know it will be worth it for me when a recession hits and startups and big companies start letting go. That's one more reason working here has its benefits.

Cons: Last year, it was a bit slow. It took some time to iron out some SR hires, directional changes, etc. But these days, not too much.