Decent place to work until dept. grew too large and HR started interfering. - Senior Software Engineer Bloomberg Employee Review

2.0
Feb 12, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary for experienced people, benefits package ok. Relaxed dress code and quite flexible on working hours. Nice working environment (though completely open plan can be quite a distraction when you're trying to write code), free drinks and snacks in the pantry. Senior programmers do get some freedom to determine what work they do and how it gets done.

Cons

Poor codebase and development tools creates a maintenance nightmare, you can find yourself spending more time firefighting and working around inefficient old code than creating new apps. Culture changed a few years ago to a 'metric' based system where you get rewarded more for ticking boxes and saying 'yes' to the right people further up the management chain (don't believe anyone who says the company has a flat structure - there are 8 levels above mine and this is typical). Coupled with their philosophy of mainly promoting eager to please, inexperienced graduates this has led to whole layers of incompetent mangement led by similar, more senior managers who have no industry or engineering experience other than at Bloomberg. The only way of improving your prospects is by enrolling in a 'leadership' course led by the very same people, few people are promoted based on ability. There is no distinction between project managers and those with the necessary people skills to manage groups. Pension is not particularly good. Used to be able to work from home occasionally but now this must be approved by senior managers, just one example of the atmosphere of mistrust which had led to a general atmosphere of low morale.

Explore other reviews about Bloomberg

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company, in this role you have the chance to learn about the financial markets, the terminal, and also you get client exposure.

Cons

Not really cons, culture is great.

4.0
Jun 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunities to do lots of work with data and finance to apply knowledge in both programming and Subject-Matter Expertise (SME). Excellent Work-Life Balance (WLB) and extremely welcoming culture. You can reach out to anyone for help or just to talk, and they will get back to you (although management does require more scheduling in advance). Generous compensation (good wage) and benefits, including housing for interns. If you heard the rumors that the Bloomberg Princeton office has a great Bloomberg Pantry (read: company-provided breakfast and lunch), the rumors are true.

Cons

Not the place for those looking for cutting-edge AI. The company is not as fast with AI as the company prioritizes reliability and accuracy above all, and much of AI is not at an acceptable threshold for management to be willing to take that risk with financial data (at least in 2026). You may get a project to automate menial processes, which is really cool, but that tends to involve actually doing the menial processes, which feels unproductive. Princeton office is good but New York is considered preferable. Coworkers are not very reachable outside of work hours. Compensation is low in Data compared to Software Engineers.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All