Pros
I started at Epic after reading as many reviews of the working environment as I could get my hands on and going into this job with realistic expectations has definitely been helpful. I didn’t expect the job to be cushy (it’s not) but I did expect to be challenged and rewarded for hard work. If you don't guard your personal time fiercely, you will probably burn out. You’ll hear this from most people who ever worked at Epic, but it bears repeating—the best thing about working at Epic is having the chance to work with amazingly talented and smart people. The company does hold its employees to high standards but TS typically don’t have anyone breathing over their shoulders to make sure they’re doing good work. In fact, as TS, you work pretty independently a lot of the time—managing your own work and task lists. People push themselves to do good work. The training at Epic is fantastic. If you show aptitude and interest, you constantly have the chance to learn and develop both technical skills (working on development, being involved in the design and QA process) and business skills (project management, public speaking, managing others). Also, once you've been here for more than a year or two and are doing well, you get more say in what kind of work you'll be doing. And, of course, compensation. It pays decently for a job that expects no industry knowledge upon hire. Raises and bonuses are merit-based and if you’re doing well, they’re pretty generous. Furthermore, I love travelling and traveling as a TS can be really fun—it’s hard to do anything fun during the week on a work trip, but it’s easy to stay in a location an extra day or weekend and see a new place. If you have a good idea of what you want to get out of this job and a good understanding of what you're willing to put in, it can be a really good job.
Cons
My least favorite thing about working here is that you really do have to look out for yourself. If you’re doing well, you will be given more responsibility which equates to more work and it can be difficult to hand off old responsibilities when you get new ones. Once I started, it was really helpful to find people who have been doing this for years and still maintain personal lives. You do need to be conscious of how to work here without being consumed by it. It can be a lot of work. Realistically, TS typically work between 45 and 55 hours each week but those are busy hours and you will occasionally put in some really long weeks. While working here, you will never reach the end of you To Do list but you can get better at accepting that fact. This is exhausting sometimes, but if you’re able to set boundaries for yourself between work and your personal life, it’s doable.
