Epic reviews

Management doesn't care about the employees. There's a lot of projects with no clear direction and a vague goal that developers are expected to turn into a finished product with little to no assistance. Overtime without pay is expected by the company; expect to be reprimanded if you work less than 45 hours a week and you'll frequently go past 50 or 60.

There is pervasive meme of "drinking the kool-aid" throughout the extended Epic network. To an outsider (i.e. a customer), the company seems to operate as a single organism and toe the party line. And it's undeniably true that Epic works extremely hard to maintain its company culture. The company motto of 'do good, have fun, make money' is omnipresent on campus, not to mention its own 10 commandments and 12 principles posted in every bathroom. Of course, like any software company, there is a massive amount of jargon and lingo used both internally and externally (some of which is very much coded language based on what employees are allowed to say and reveal to customers). And of course work-life balance being an important aspect of any company culture, is addressed by strongly encouraging work-life integration. And far from prohibiting employee relationships, Epic celebrates them by announcing marriages between employees at their monthly all staff meetings. Finally, there's the feedback. Epic employees are constantly reminded and encouraged to give feedback to their coworkers, both positive and constructive. To really drive this home, Epic is thoughtful enough to have a button to give someone feedback via email right on each employee's staff directory page. Epic is committed to constantly improving their employees and thus feedback is deeply engrained in its culture as well. Of course, a person will most likely never know if you have given them feedback. The button on their staff page opens an Outlook window to their Team Lead (a person who for all intents and purposes is that employee's manager, but that attribution is very discouraged), who will then deliver your feedback to the person at an upcoming weekly one on one. It is very rare to be given direct feedback from someone. There are also numerous other ways employees are asked to evaluate their coworkers on a regular basis. Feedback is extremely important. Epic does stack rankings, but does not state that explicitly. You are evaluated against your coworkers of the same job role on the same application (and then maybe further evaluated against the rest of your job role?) during your positions yearly raise cycle. In terms of evaluation: your improvements, accomplishments, projects and goals you and your team lead have set are taken into consideration, but they comprise a smaller component of your evaluation. The main component is feedback received, both positive and constructive. It is therefore in your best interests to never give anyone positive feedback but to give plenty of constructive feedback. Outright negative feedback and complaints are also acceptable (and are the predominant forms of feedback given). This has lead to a company culture of encouraged tattling and complaining when someone irritates you, and provides a strong incentive to throw others under the bus. Let's go back to the kool-aid. The phrase 'drinking the Epic kool-aid' is used constantly in the extended Epic network. Of course it's not meant to be taken literally, but it's extremely apt considering what Epic culture really looks like. The staff meetings involve minimal business information and are not dissimilar from charismatic revival meetings. You are encouraged to drink the kool-aid. People will mention it if you don't. In the spirit of naming conventions, I'll sum up what I'm getting at with a new INI URE - the Epic cult