Bloomberg reviews

Be assured that you won't be doing anything advanced in terms of programming. They focus on pushing out the product ASAP. Now customers thinks, wow that's fast. Then, when something breaks(because of poor design, no unit test, they hire people who doesn't know how to write proper OOP code etc. etc.) then we apply quick hacky fix. Then client thinks, wow, what a customer service! This is basically why they're NOT changing, there's no business reason to change. If you are a good programmer, you will find better paying company and better environment to learn. Now they are having trouble hiring people, they even changed the policy regarding hiring past employees. (It used to be if you quit, you can never come back.) Also, it used to be that you have to pass 80% grade in their training class upon hiring, otherwise you get fired. Now.. there's no such thing, because they can't afford to lose more people. The standard has definitely gone down. I would definitely not recommend this company to my programmer friends. I know at least 5 people who are actively preparing for job interviews. These are the better programmers in R&D as well. I also know many people are there just waiting for the green card, once they get, it, they say they'll get out of here ASAP. I should not have chosen Bloomberg the first place, I regret it. Their HR response was the fastest among the companies I applied to, that was the only reason I chose it because it was the first offer I got. I rejected subsequent (at least better in terms of pay) offers from other companies all because I already accepted the offer from Bloomberg. Time you interviews right, don't make the same mistake! I only stayed as long as I have because my green card is almost here. I will quit the day I get it. Too many better opportunities out there. There's more to life than trivial DRQS's.

- Boring job – when I applied to work at Bloomberg, the job description sounded like it will involve at least some research/analysis of various asset classes (depending on what team you get assigned to). In reality, the job is basically a glorified caller center worker who tags data. My days consisted of moving data points from point A to point B, and dealing with angry clients asking why we make stupid mistakes. Occasionally, you are given some “projects” which are either just simple and mind-numbing mass data corrections, or some aimless “improvement” requests that die down without real solutions several months later. I felt like my brain cells were slowly dying of inactivity during my tenure there. - Clueless managers and apathetic colleagues – it’s true what they say about how quality of your work experience depends on the people you work with. Most managers are completely clueless, and they are where they are only because they’ve been working in the company for so long (and their peers who are actually qualified presumably left the firm long time ago). They have no idea how to run a department/team, but still love bossing around because they are delusional and power-tripping. They act as if they are in Wall Street by throwing around finance/management jargons and acronyms that have no applications to our operation, and seem to be only occupied with pleasing their own managers. I felt like I was in a big frat house where the managers were busy “bro-ing” with each other and their managers. In terms of your colleagues, there are three types: 1) those who are ambitious, smart, and motivated; 2) those who are neither smart nor motivated; and 3) those who are smart, but not motivated. Of those in the three categories, people in the first category quickly realize the limitation of the department and leave as quickly as possible. Thus, you are left to work with those who can’t perform because they lack the skills/intelligence, or won’t perform because they just don’t care. Either way, the quality of work that gets done is mediocre at best. The worst part of all of this is that before not too long, you will find yourself in one of the latter two categories at some point if you decide to stay for too long. - Laughable technology – for a company who claims to be a leader in the financial data business, the technology used in the firm is a joke for the most part, and once again, mediocre at best. The management refuses to invest serious money into developing a better system; instead, they only invest in cheaper patching-up solutions just to get by. - No growth opportunity – the company has a very flat structure, which means that there are very few management positions available. You learn absolutely nothing that is applicable outside of your team, so most people are stuck doing the same things year after year. If you are smart and good at what you do, your chance of being promoted actually seems to decrease since they are worried that they won’t be able to find a suitable replacement for you. There are options to apply to transfer internally (or to NYC), but the competition is very tough, and even if you are able to transfer, more likely than not you will be doing similar tasks that you have been doing – just with a different asset class. Those who are motivated/smart enough to learn new skills don’t even bother applying internally – they simply leave the firm. - Long lines for bathroom stalls – I don’t see any previous reviewers mentioning it, but this is a real problem in the Skillman office. I don’t know what they do (nor do I want to know) in the bathroom stalls, but regardless of when you go to the bathroom, there is *always* a line for stalls. It wasn’t rare for people to wait 5-10 minutes in line. Apparently going number two is a privilege in that office. My current colleagues think that I’m making this up, but sadly, I’m not. My apologies for the long review, but in short, if you have even half a brain and think that you have a shot at being successful at any other place, do yourself a favor and stay away from this place.