senior programmer

programmer

senior artist

senior designer

shift leader

Epic Games

As a contracted QA tester, this job was fun and relaxed overall, but beneath the surface it's a complete mess. 

A typical day occurs at different locations depending on which project you are assigned to. Your QA lead will give each team lead a task, which they will break down for their respective groups.

For the most part, other co-workers were cool and laid-back, but many were very hard to work with. Getting people to help with an assignment is like pulling teeth, so the majority of tasks given are completed solo. People will ask you for help relentlessly, but refuse to return the favor, and the majority of them always think they know more than you. Oh, and don't expect the stuff you leave in the office fridge to remain undisturbed.

QA leads are very impulsive, and make on-the-spot decisions that make no sense. One minute you are working on an important task, the next minute you're getting pulled off to work on something else, even though other people are doing nothing. Don't expect to even see them often, as they frequently leave in the middle of the day for reasons they neglect to mention, leaving an unknowledgeable tester in charge. 

Communication is also a huge issue. Chatting between QA, team leads, and developers occurs using both Slack and Google Hangouts, but parties never reliably read their new messages. It takes anywhere between 5 to 30 minutes to receive a response on average. This is frustrating due to needing help/answers right away.

There have been many cases of contractors moving into full-time positions at Epic, though the only way to get this to happen is to meet important people and brown-nose as often as possible. Performing actual, physical work does not attest to how good of an employee you are. At all. The majority of full-time QA testers spend their days slacking off on the internet or taking extended lunch breaks when they are needed most, so if you are hired, look forward to that.

TL;DR: Epic QA tester role not the best for someone looking to advance for working hard. Management is a mangled network of miscommunication. Majority of other co-workers are stubborn and dead weight.

Epic provides great benefits, with a 401k, free health insurance that covers everything, dental, vision, and even pay for 10 therapy sessions/year. The pay isn't bad but isn't the best.

The company started doing something called "focus fridays" intended to help workers stay focused on their tasks. It's taboo to reach out to people with questions on Fridays. That really mostly just makes it harder to get work done those days.

There are occasionally days when we had to stay overtime for quite a while. It was really rare, though.

Frequently people were let go. This is speculation, but it seemed to me as though it may have been policy to drop the lowest performing member of the department every month. This seemed to be based on pure metrics, with no consideration of the worker's circumstances or assigned tasks. As such, job security is terrible. It's very easy to be screwed over by getting unlucky with assigned tasks, leading to a worker being fired for not performing well enough when they actually were working very hard.

A typical day in the office has me reviewing the current project my team is working on looking for game play issues.  If issues are found then submitting a report on this bug to the correct developer and communicating with that developer.  This will include precise details, pictures/videos, and correctly identifying the person best suited to fix the issue.  After that reviewing fixed issues to check that they were completed and no longer occurring.   There are also meetings to attend, other projects or departments to help with and creating documents.  Emails must be maintained at all times so important information is not missed.   The management team is wonderful as they do care about their employees and can be seen often around the office.  My co-workers are wonderful people that mostly support one another as we have to work in teams (also solo just as quickly) very often.  The hardest part of the job is the fact that it is contract and full time is very hard to come by with the company  The most enjoyable part of the job is working on a video game project or engine and then seeing the enjoyment others have with it.

After doing a Year of work at Epic Games I can say the benefits where great. The downside came from the Leadership having very toxic and Bro-culture personalities. Not Once did my boss acknowledge my improvements of flat out success at that company. Yet, someone that did a Jim crow blackface during a company meeting got promoted to stay. What really Hurt the most was watching Epic drop super talented personnel from the team that should have been promoted time and time again. One such person even been with them for 5 years without an offer for Full Time Employment. 

There is barely room for growth for contractors. I was under the impression that I would be converted into a FTE after a year, however that did not happen due to a hiring freeze. Most of my co-workers  were pleasant to work with, however there were a few individuals in the office who were condescending, fake, and sucked up to the higher ups. Certain people would push their work onto others and not do the job they were paid to do. That is not okay.
I was lucky to work with a caring and understanding manager, however others weren't so lucky. I would not recommend working for this company because of my personal experiences.

There are many benefits to working for Epic: free catered lunches, a variety of snacks and drinks, casual dress attire and free swag. 

However, if you are someone with a family or outside responsibilities, this isn't the place for you. Working there is highly demanding on your personal life and will take away from your home responsibilities. If you can adapt and handle it, there's still no guarantee you'll ever progress professionally. This job is good to go in, get some experience, and take it somewhere else.

The people I've met are amazing and I would easily consider many of them good friends. Which is great, because you'll need friends in order to handle the demanding workload.

Good company. Generally well managed. Some bosses are great some are awful. I liked the IDEA of working there more than actually working there. A lot of crunch and long hours and extreme pressure to work quickly. I am much too anxious of a person to do well in an environment like that and only lasted 2 years. But some people really thrive in an environment like that. If you're a software person who can live like that, Epic will take care of you. Benefits are so good they will make you laugh at every other companies benefits. Bonuses, at least at the height of the Fortnite phenomenon, were staggeringly large.

I've worked at several companies in the tech industry and not once have I felt as valued as I feel at Epic. My manager does an amazing job at helping me build a path for my career and guiding me toward my goals. The actual job is interesting as working on a live service game everything is constantly changing and adapting. Management is open to new ideas and workflows and I can tell my input is valued. Overtime happens bi-weekly but isn't as crazy as it is at other tech companies. Recently there has been a wave of layoffs and no new employees hired which has led to some stress but other than that I have no cons.

Epic seems to be a great company to work for- from the outside - but once inside the pearly gates they wreak havoc. Nonexistent goals but you will be held to them. It seems they are not sure what they want - and expectations change quickly. Everyone is very nice and cordial to your face but they are so scared for their jobs they are not open to working together for the good of the company. The management are older guys that want to think they still have it but they don't. They are more worried about obtaining the newest iPhone than they are how the employees actually feel about their work.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people. Coworkers and boss were great until they left or were let go one by one. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
paycheck.  It's a joke

There were days I couldn't afford to eat because of this company and they just wanted to take away even more hours. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
really easygoing. People join and disappear very easily there's no staying power so every day was meeting new people.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Unnecessary Meeting 1
Ticket work
Unnecessary Meeting 2
Ticket work
Ticket work

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior programmer 57 salaries reported	$233,224 per year
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Senior designer 25 salaries reported	$188,389 per year
Shift leader 30 salaries reported	$190,670 per year

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