Pros
- There's more visibility into senior executive decision making, long term planning, and financial results than in any company I have worked for. - The culture is rational and egalitarian. Ideas are discussed and considered from many sources, and I feel that I have as much input into planning and effect on the final product as I could ask for. - The pay is excellent, and benefits appear to be similar to those at software companies of the same size. - The products are well designed and rich in content, and continue to be the best in class for Guidewire's market segment. Even better, Guidewire has figured out how to sell and successfully configure these complex products, making the company the market leader and the one to bet on. That translates into great bonuses and a decent stock price. - Guidewire has high hiring standards, and the technical staff is impressive in their quality and experience, yet there's none of that self aggrandizing I've seen at some other companies I've worked for. I find engineers at every level to be open to ideas and easy to collaborate with. - There's a lot of camaraderie in the teams. Guidewire supports team outings that encourage team building and good interpersonal relationships.
Cons
- I would like to work from home more days a week on a regular basis than the company supports. However, when I need to work from home for a particular reason, there's never a problem with doing so. - I'd like health benefits to be better than the industry standard. However, I came from a larger company that had excellent benefits, so the comparison might not be fair. Additionally, I understand how expensive healthcare insurance has become, and that the company has made a decision to focus more on monetary rewards like salary, stock, and bonuses, all of which I find to be generous. - The company appears to be in transition from a successful, post-IPO startup to a larger, more mature company. The company is doing pretty well with expanding management staff and planning capabilities, but has made some mistakes. However, so far they've been nothing major or difficult to recover from, and the response from senior management has been encouraging and remarkably open.