A grueling but rewarding job for fresh graduates looking to break into Healthcare IT/IS
Pros
- Good way to break into the Healthcare IT/IS industry - Get to work with lots of other bright new grads since Epic HR heavily favors hiring high GPA students out of Tier 1 colleges that tested well on the Epic new hire IQ/Skills assessments. - Lots of responsibilities are thrust at you quickly (very much a learn or swim situation) - Good starting salary (especially for new college grades) and assuming good performance reviews, hefty raises/bonuses. - Low priced healthcare plans - Decent fringe benefits such as free milk/juices/teas, free popcorn and a high quality cafeteria that provides subsidized $2-3 lunchs and free dinner after 7pm. (Yes, that free dinner after 7pm is a not so subtle hint from management they expect many employees to be working later than 7 on a semi-regular basis.
Cons
- The work/life balance definitely is skewed more towards work more than life. - Unpaid overtime. In order for you to keep up with your job duties, much less excel at them, you will be expected to put in copious amounts of overtime. Don't be surprised to see fairly full employee parking lots even when you leave the office at 7-8pm on weekdays and when you come in on weekends. Due to the massive amounts of unpaid overtime, your yearly pay may seem satisfactory but diminishes to average or even sub-par once you factor in all the overtime. - Massive burnout rate. The project management/implementation services division is notorious for being worked hard even in a company that works all its employees hard. Don't surprised to see a quarter of new hires from your hire month leave by your first year and more than half leave at the two year mark. - Lots of responsibilities are thrust at you quickly (very much a learn or swim situation). - Retirement/profit sharing plans are very subpar. You get a relatively low amount of 401k matching and small profit sharing with the kicker they fully vest at the 3 year mark. Since I doubt a quarter of new hires make it to the three year mark (Getting to the 3yr mark brings with it a ceremony and memory basket at the weekly division meetings illustrates how rarely employees stay for the long term.), this makes the plans benefits pretty ineffectual. - 1year noncompete contract for all new hires. Epic experience and certifications is in high demand among the many hospitals and consulting companies but before you jump ship, there is the one year enforced wait.
