Pros
If you're on the right team can be cushy Pay is good relative to cost of living Secure jobs, Epic is privately held so there's a minimal chance of market-based layoffs Minimal degree requirements (just have one and you're golden, possibly even an associates), good potential entry point for non-comp sci people to get into the tech world, if you pass the entrance exam you're basically guaranteed a job
Cons
If you're on the wrong team, can be really tough Regardless of whether you're billable/hourly, you always have to log your time stating what you're doing every 15 minutes (they're very serious about this) They really churn through people, probably half of everyone quits before 2 years, constant stream of recent grads getting hired 5 remote days per year (year! Not month, not quarter). Extremely extremely anti-remote, I could see them eliminating it all together 10 vacation days/year regardless of role (goes up to 15 at 2 years and never goes up again afaik), 12 sick days which is standard I guess Tons of strings attached to compensation/benefits: relo bonus has a minimum 2 year clawback period for amounts as small as $5k, 401k match is on a vesting schedule (20% at 2 years up to 100% at 5 years) which seems super stingy for this multi multi multi billion dollar company, "tuition assistance" not available until 2 years in, is capped around 2.5k/semester or 5k/yr, and comes with a 3 years retention clause Very toxic work culture, they claim a "flat" structure but nothing could be further from the truth. There's a massive hierarchy of roles, just stripped of titles to make switching jobs harder, and the ranking process is extraordinarily complex and opaque. It's all mind games based on obscuring performance and compensation to keep people in a constant state of not feeling like they're doing enough. Ultimately, I was grateful to be able to ride out the tech crash here, but as soon as another opportunity presented itself I took it.