FactSet has made some business decisions over the years that have put it in the position of needing to hire more engineers than it can.
- What FactSet was doing 20 years ago was state-of-the-art. The environment that we operate in today is archaic. Engineers have to put a lot of effort in to simply maintain what we have. They also will not typically get experience in what is the industry standard.
- We can't simply switch to what is state-of-the-art today because FactSet's clients do not like change. Over the years, bugs have become features. It is extremely difficult to make major infrastructure improvements, even if that means we fix bugs in the meantime.
Work-life balance is good, but more can be done to improve it.
- Many engineers have on-call responsibilities. Senior management and people in other departments do not appreciate how difficult it can be to work all night and then have to work all day.
- Having been at FactSet many years, I have seen perks diminish and go away entirely. I suppose these are natural growing pains, but I wanted to list these things anyway.
- Home internet reimbursement for people with on-call responsibilities.
- The ability to invite a date / spouse to the holiday party.
- A summer picnic.
- Lunch on Fridays.
- The lunch subsidy is not increased for inflation.
- Tuition reimbursement. (Used to be 100%. It went away entirely, then came back capped at what FactSet can deduct.)
These complaints are far outweighed by the positive side of working at FactSet. Overall, I am a happy employee.
