Epic, all too Epic...
Pros
1. Introduction to Software Implementation - you will learn the basics of software implementation and get exposure to project management, business analysis, testing and training. Epic will not give you industry standard knowledge in these areas but with some personal initiative, you can give yourself a framework for later specialization and career prospects 2. Autonomy - Most people are pretty busy at Epic and that includes your TL. This means that so long as you don't make your coworkers or customers unhappy, you won't have much management overhead to worry about. This is obviously dependent on who your boss is though. 3. Future career prospects - Barring you enjoy working in healthcare IT, having Epic experience and healthcare knowledge will open doors for you later on to opportunities with better companies. I love my current non-consultant job and working at Epic played a huge role in getting me an interview with them. 4. The Experience - working at Epic is not a job, or a career, but an experience. The blending of the college/work lifestyle shows itself inside and outside the office: be it from traveling all across the US, working a ton of hours, living in the strange state of Wisconsin, being bombarded by corporate kool-aid or from all the partying/drinking/smoking that accompanies the lives of most Epic IS, you will not forget it. To this day, my ex-Epic friends and I still talk about how crazy it was working there. That being said, it's a con as well...
Cons
1. Bad Quality of Life - while the work hard/play hard mentality is fun for a few years, it eventually grates on you to the point of exhaustion. Epic will throw as much work as you are willing to take and soon enough you will yourself constantly on the road, drinking at airport bars, getting home at 1 am on a Friday morning and needing to be in the office at 7 for an East Coast customer meeting. Combine this with having little time to adjust to life in Madison which includes making friends and having relationships with others, the quality of life gets real bad. It may not be important at first, but by years 2-3 most people realize this and quit the company. This exasperates those issues for people who stay as they will constantly see their limited group of friends dwindle and leave Epic/Madison. Last days at Epic become points of celebration with final emails typically being scribes against the job that had taken over their lives. Some of the more fatalistic even kept those emails for reference... 2. Shadowy Management Structure - Although Epic claims to have a flat management structure, this isn't true. At some point in their career, the best employees get tapped for internal projects and roles where they are introduced to the hierarchy of Epic that does exist in each division, although not publicized. You'll find yourself in meetings discussing issues that are never talked about at Division Meetings but are being 'looked at' by leadership. Unfortunately the lack of public structure makes decision making challenging and uncoordinated contributing to Epic's kindergarten-like atmosphere. 3. The culture - Epic is a shamelessly culture driven company and that "I want to change the world" Millennial kool-aid gets sweeter every year. After a few years at Epic you'll realize the breakdown of employees: 1. the kool-aid drinkers who think Judy is immortal and are promoted to the roles of TL/IC, 2. the reasonable culture warriors who like Epic but are willing to admit its faults despite never being able to rise above the position of AM themselves, and 3. the cool people aka the critical thinkers who see Epic for what it is, have their own ideas, and leave the company at the 1-3 year mark. 4. Smart, but not Intelligent - I met only a handful of people at Epic who I'd consider intelligent. Sure many of the employees probably got good grades in college, but being book-smart does not necessarily translate into business intelligence. Most of the people at Epic merely go along with whatever the prevailing groupthink of the company is at any point. This is so bad that they literally had to add a 13th corporate rule that said dissent is okay. Epic has it's cult-like reputation for a reason. The company indulges it, the employees go along with it and those who disagree are typically misunderstood, marginalized and ultimately pushed out.
