Great Place to Start a Career, Not for Everyone
Pros
Perfect Out of College: Epic does a fantastic job at setting you up for a career in healthcare as a project manager or supporting IT. Epic will reward performance with more responsibility, so if you are committed and put in the time, you shouldn't have issues performing well. Compensation: the starting salary will keep you very comfortable in Wisconsin, where expenses are low. Raises get up to 30% during the first couple years for top performers, so you are able to earn a great living, pay off debts, and save a lot at an early age. Travel/other Benefits: assuming you are not on a local customer or one that requires driving (WI, MN, Chicago), you'll be able to rack up a lot of airline miles (depends on location, but usually Delta) and hotel points (Marriott). The sabbatical that you earn every 5 years is an amazing perk (paid month off with international travel expenses reimbursed) if you decide to stay that long. Customer-focused Mindset: Beyond the communication, management, and technical skills you will learn, Epic instills a sense of devotion to customers that is unparalleled in the healthcare IT market. This makes ex-Epic employees great for client-facing roles
Cons
Limited Flexibility: Epic prioritizes it's clients and it's software well above the needs/desires of the employees. They are very inflexible with their employee policies - emphasis is on coming to the office to perform all work, regardless of your travel schedule and don't trust employees to work effectively remotely. Paid time off tops out at 15 days per year for all roles. Inconsistent Management: employees who perform well with clients are often promoted to leadership (TL) before they are ready or before they have demonstrated the ability to manage/mentor other people. This leads to an inconsistent experience for younger employees who are assigned to younger TL's. Retention: the non-compete they make you sign in order to get hired is so restrictive that it is borderline oppressive. You are unable to work for Epic's clients, competitors, or any firms that interact with the healthcare IT industry (management consulting, large IT companies, etc.) for 12 months, and have extended this to 18 months for some employees. Epic doesn't rely on it's alumni network to bring them clients and doesn't hire many experienced employees, so their is little business incentive for them to change these policies, but it really limits your career options right after Epic and is why so many people take a year off or go to MBA/Master's programs after leaving.
