Pros
- The production team are excellent. I've never felt overwhelmed by the amount of work, and they give you plenty of space to get your work done. Compared to other places I've worked in the games industry, I feel like production are working with me, rather than against me. - The team I work with a superb. Everyone is talented, and proud of the work they do. Managers are open about what needs to be done, don't push us past our limits, and always consider how we feel, especially around this busy period being the leading studio this year. - Sledgehammer is a very inclusive company. The workforce is not as male dominant as other game studios. It's a pleasure to work for such a diverse studio. - A good budget for learning. Every year it's around $2500, I believe, give or take. There are a few processes in place to get this, but as far as I know only Sledgehammer offers this bonus, in contrast to other Call of Duty studios. - Good equipment in general, monitors, and a top of the range PC. You're given an average amount of money to get yourself setup at home, which is a little low in my opinion, given that you're working at your desk for extended periods of time. It's around $1000, but that'll get you a fairly small desk, and average chair. Still better than nothing, and you can put your own money to purchase something better alongside this amount too. - They pay for your home internet. Not sure if this still stands, but mine is currently paid for entirely by Sledgehammer, at around $100 a month. - The tools we use for development are top of the line, and actively developed/improved. I've worked other places where tooling is terrible and really restricted what we could do, but everything is integrated well here. - Generous vacation policy, especially for a US/Canada studio. It's around 4 weeks a year, plus public holidays, plus 1-2 weeks at Christmas. - Studio bonus was around 8% of yearly salary this year, which is a welcome treat, alongside salary increases too.
Cons
- The push to return to office. Lots of other games companies in my area are still hiring for remote only roles, and I think this will overall affect the amount of talent that will come to this studio. Given the size of the US, and Canada, where you can live and work from anywhere, I think it's a bad decision to force people back into the office. Sadly, this is also very biased to QA, and IT roles, and not as much engineering, which makes little sense to me ( at least for QA, IT are clearly the champions that are required to be in the office for the most part ). I know that the return to office push is coming more from the publisher level, so there is little we can do as a company, but it's still a war we should fight.
