Epic Software Developer reviews

3.3

49% would recommend to a friend

(951 total reviews)
avatar

Judith R. Faulkner

75% approve of CEO

81% positive business outlook

Software Engineer/Developer employees have rated Epic with 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 951 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Engineer/Developer professionals have a good working experience there. Epic is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Engineer/Developer professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

951 reviews
1.0
Aug 28, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. Good salary and good increment for first two year for SD 2. Good Campus with different themes for every building. Its very creative.

Cons

One of the first things- I am disappointed with Epic is, they sell their Soft Developer position by mentioning C#, .Net exclusively- but 70-80% of the job profile is Cache and VB based. If even you are placed in a team which is working with .Net, mostly you would be coding in Cache (their back end language). For some reason I feel this as immoral and unethical to post jobs with generic profile. I was told before 2 and half year that they are moving to .NET with this release which was not true as it would take another 2-3 years from now to start the move from VB to .NET. In terms of career advancement, you would have very limited scope as technology wise its a hard sell for languages like VB and cache whereas domain wise, Epic makes you sign a non-compete agreement through which you cannot work with anyone working against Epic and with anyone working with Epic. When I came to Epic, Judy (CEO) mentioned in one of the meetings that it takes 3 years to become Epic's employee. I understood quite late what it meant as you do not have any other choice. Work culture: Epic puts lots of pressure on the employees to put around 55-60 hours a week and anything less than that and you are in bottom 10% danger zone that get kicked out every year. They do not give a compensatory off for working extra hours. They have lots of software developers working on H1B. To safe their working status, they will have to put these many hours which makes other people to put so many hours which is not a healthy competition. There are three major roles in Epic- Soft Developers, Technical Service(TS) and Implementers(IS). I am yet to meet a experience TS or IS guy who loved his job. For Software Developers it depends on your team lead. They have vested lots of power on your team lead. If he says you do not perform then any argument against it is useless. Any geek who has done one very good project would be made your team lead irrespective of his managerial skills. You fill very controlled and their happens lots of micro-management. They track how many comments did you get on your code- to- how many comments can you give -to- how many doubts do you ask your co-workers. The good thing is they pay you good but there is no personal satisfaction. Epic is like Walmart of HealthCare industry where company has a good name but employees are not happy. I am not sure who decided on Madison as being one of the top cities to live in US. Its a small country side place and there is nothing there to do. Once on a Friday night, there were 3 people in a 30 lane bowling alley. Bottom line is you need to have a good social life or if you like secluded life then Madison would be a better place for you.

2.0
Aug 3, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay is good & the campus is cool. That is about it.

Cons

Outdated technologies used, no future growth prospect coming out of the company Bad bad bad legacy code, and that too in VB6 ! No/minor pay increases. Perhaps one of the highest turnovers in an IT company, I found seeing people leaving the team left and right quite depressing. No hierarchy, senior developers become developers but there is need for principals and people who can drive the system design. They are not cool with WFH and do not provide/let you use a laptop ! Location is not the best - it snows way too much in Wisconsin but then that's personal preference. No smoking/drinking in campus, I don't smoke but making it a taboo is somewhat naive I feel.

5.0
Jul 7, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Epic shows its employees a tremendous amount of respect, and it's as much as I've ever hoped for in a relationship with an employer. As a developer, I'm given a great deal of leeway in how I complete assignments, including relatively flexible hours. Within my team at least, my colleagues maintain a wide variety of personal schedules, and it's never a problem. Everyone's extremely competent and gets their work done, and that's enough. The private offices are extremely nice. They're always growing too fast to have enough for everyone, but they're also constantly tossing up new buildings. New hires frequently double up for a while, but with a little patience, you really do get a private office. I spent a year at a satellite site in a cubicle before moving to campus proper, but once I did, my single year's experience was enough seniority to merit an office of my own. That's anecdotal and your mileage may vary, but even doubling up in an Epic office is superior to the alternatives out there, and no matter how you slice it, compared to more corporate environments, Epic employees get private offices at a fast rate. As a developer, I spent my first five months training. Epic invests an impressive amount of patience, time, and money in its new hires. By the time I began to receive real assignments, I felt extremely valued and well-prepared: a far cry from the way I've been thrown into the fire before. Considering the private offices, the casual dress code, and the high quantity and quality of training and resources provided, Epic is a tremendously comfortable place to work. They do a terrific job clearing away all the annoyances and barriers so everyone can keep their eyes on the ball. Epic also devotes itself admirably to proper development structure and processes. Best practices are well observed and frequently reinforced and improved, with strong tools provided and continuously updated. I can't speak for other roles, but Epic is a first-rate place to be a software developer. Other bonuses (not remotely a complete list): a colorful and very non-corporate facility, a strong culture, exceptional IT and facilities support, free beverages, and a solid cafeteria.

Cons

Everyone's very motivated, which is good, but they're also often very busy. And when people are busy, one of the first things to fall by the wayside is performance feedback. Despite a documented schedule and process for formal performance reviews, I haven't had a single one in more than two years. I hope that no news is good news and that I'd get more feedback if there was a problem to warrant it -- but how would I know? I've gotten a comment here and there, but most of the feedback I've gotten I've had to ask for. OK for folks who are driven enough to extract feedback on their own, but the silence can get pretty wearying and unsettling for everyone else. Management comes in the form of team leads, colleagues of the same role (such as software developer or QA) who perform strongly enough in that role to catch someone's attention when there's an opening for a new team lead. Typically a new lead starts off guiding 2-3 subordinates. But strong performance as a manager requires a significantly different skill set from what each role requires to excel. Epic provides training for new team leads, but it seems spotty and generally insufficient considering the vast management skills material that it needs to cover. Not to mention team leads' time is valuable, and if something has to go, putting off the training is the first option. But training's a poor substitute for experience anyway, and for most new team leads, this is their first taste of what management really is. Gotta start somewhere, but this system frequently leads to team leads who are extremely skilled as peers but not immediately adept as managers. New hires are the employees most in need of assistance and feedback and guidance, but the way seniority works, they're also the ones who often wind up with new team leads, people who are least likely to be able to provide those things well. I spent my first two years working for a team lead who barely had any time for me. At least half my weekly workplan meetings (in theory an Epic requirement) were canceled, and the ones that did take place averaged less than 5 minutes. In my case the problem was access and attention, not experience. But I just haven't perceived the same strong emphasis on management best practices that there is on, say, the software development cycle. It's perhaps a side effect of the expectation that we're all responsible adults and don't need that much management -- normally a good thing. But I hear more grumbling about team leads than anything else. Hiring is outpacing campus growth. It's nice to work for a healthy employer, but the crowd pressure is growing noticeably when it comes to private office availability and the ability to navigate the cafeteria.

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