Bridgewater Associates reviews

Min 50 hrs a/week, no work/life balance, under daily intense pressure and stress, outdated technology - excel over used, large turn over, constantly training newbies or taking on the workload of those that management deems below the bar. Losing your job is always just around the corner. Money making departments (employees - bonuses) favored over non-profit support or back office departments. Friendships are strong and deep because of the intense environment which at times simulates war. The promise of speaking your mind, holding people accountable, asking questions. - can become way too much sometimes as it can hinder getting things done. Overwhelming workload, "culture homework", Ray's apps to monitor feedback, reviews on coworkers, emotions = endless to dos and not enough time.

The culture is definitely a downer for the vast majority of people. The idea is for everyone to help each other improve, which sounds great in principle. Sadly, in practice, every diagnosis meeting starts with the premise, "Maybe you're not the right person for this role or this company", and it becomes very hard to be objective and open about weaknesses when your livelihood is on the line. (The location makes this worse, since many people move to work at Bridgewater and are isolated from their home networks and alternative jobs. The long non-compete and the insular culture exacerbate this.) Culture is dominated by bright people with limited experience, leading to a lot of "good ideas" that are actually just repeating old mistakes made elsewhere. The same bright people are encouraged to be somewhat deaf to new ideas from others. I found myself acting the same way, honestly; it was very hard for me to hold my independent point of view in the middle of that culture.