I skimmed this, but then I saw Madison, WI jump out. Here's a warning: I'd bet $100 the company was Epic Systems. They're a godawful employer [1]. Please please please think multiple times and talk to previous employees before accepting a job there. They're infamous for hiring devs on h1bs, refusing to sponsor them for a green card, and working their asses off while paying as little as possible and well under market. They also use, at least last time I checked, the world's shittiest tech stack: tens of millions of lines of vb6 and maybe 30-50MM lines of M/cachescript/mumps. The world's shittiest language by a damn long shot [2:4]. Undocumented and non unit tested (last I heard), though they do hire, at least when I was there, one full time tester for every two devs. At first you'll think wow -- they're dedicated to quality! No, that's just the minimum it takes to make barely usable software there.
The other downside to their antiquated tech stack is after putting in a couple years there, you will still have no marketable skills because you'll be the same as a brand new dev straight out of school. Everyone else will have two years in on either the .net or the java or the web (rails/django/node/html5) or the ios/android tech stacks. You'll still be starting at ground zero.
Further, my best guess is their devs have something like 25-35% annual turnover. That is not a joke. The best part is if you try to leave, your ass will be stuck in Madison WI. There's really not that many tech companies there so you'll have to relocate. They'll brag about paid sabbaticals after 5 years. So few people last that long I'd bet it's one of the cheapest benefits they have.
Finally, they have a comprehensive NDA/noncompete and since it's Wisconsin, it's very enforceable and they can and do aggressively enforce it.
Just don't do it. If you poke around the internet even a bit you'll see legions of disgruntled ex employees.
I could go on; they have this theory that anyone can be trained to code so your interview is pretty much just your gpa. They then put you through a 1-3 month internal bootcamp to train you to code. You can, um, imagine the sort of code this churns out...
yeah, every company should be checked on glassdoor....will let you know if it's a company that's a slave driver, or if they are pay below market rates or if they expect you to work long hours
You just won $100. The company that approached me was Epic Systems! It's disgraceful that this type of a company can operate and use talented IT graduates so badly. The amount of negative sentiment from former employees is astounding. Whilst I would not currently consider the idea of relocating to Madison you've included some great advice in your post. I will research these types of offers a lot more thoroughly in the future. I appreciate your feedback.
The other downside to their antiquated tech stack is after putting in a couple years there, you will still have no marketable skills because you'll be the same as a brand new dev straight out of school. Everyone else will have two years in on either the .net or the java or the web (rails/django/node/html5) or the ios/android tech stacks. You'll still be starting at ground zero.
Further, my best guess is their devs have something like 25-35% annual turnover. That is not a joke. The best part is if you try to leave, your ass will be stuck in Madison WI. There's really not that many tech companies there so you'll have to relocate. They'll brag about paid sabbaticals after 5 years. So few people last that long I'd bet it's one of the cheapest benefits they have.
Finally, they have a comprehensive NDA/noncompete and since it's Wisconsin, it's very enforceable and they can and do aggressively enforce it.
Just don't do it. If you poke around the internet even a bit you'll see legions of disgruntled ex employees.
I could go on; they have this theory that anyone can be trained to code so your interview is pretty much just your gpa. They then put you through a 1-3 month internal bootcamp to train you to code. You can, um, imagine the sort of code this churns out...
See also [5:6].
[1] http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Epic-Systems-Corporation-Re...
[2] http://forums.thedailywtf.com/forums/p/2417/60874.aspx#60874
[3] http://thedailywtf.com/comments/A_Case_of_the_MUMPS.aspx
[4] http://forums.thedailywtf.com/forums/p/2402/60158.aspx#60158
[5] http://www.indeed.com/forum/cmp/Epic-Systems/Epic-Systems-Sa...
[6] http://epic-systems-rant.blogspot.com/