Would you work at say Epic?

[Ace Pace]

Simple question, on one hand, you have the following benefits:

Epic paid medical and dental insurance
Epic funded health reimbursement account
Epic paid life, accidental death & dismemberment and long term disability insurance
401(k) plan with generous match and profit sharing
12 days paid vacation in the first year, increasing to 15 days thereafter
7 paid holidays
Paid sick leave
Flexible work hours; employees must be present during core hours, which are currently 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm

On the other hand, you have crunch time, where people routinely work 7 days a week, 18 hours a day, sleep in the office and eat junk food by the truck load.

I'd do it.

[Cynical Cat]

How often is cruch time?

[Ace Pace]

How often is cruch time?

Depends on the company and dev team, asumming you work in one team, you'd have a crunch time every 2-3 years. If you worked at EA, well...there was the ea_spouse thing, where apprently they live for crunch time.

For example, Epic's Gears of War team probebly finshed a crunch time the past few months getting the title out of the door, but now they have a few months easy living then the next project starts up.

[Cynical Cat]

I'm aware of EA's constant crunch, that's why I asked. If crunch time is a distinct minority of my work time, yes, definitely.

[Dark Silver]

Depending, if I liked the team I was on, and I liked the project, and with the given benefits.
Hell yes I'd work the crunch time once every year or two, especially if it paid well.

[Destructionator XV]

If I was asked to do a crunch time, I'd say "fuck you" and hand in my resignation on the spot. I don't need to deal with that bullshit; if I was able to get that job, it means I have marketable skills that are in demand. I'll set the terms.

Then go apply at Fog Creek or Microsoft.

[Mayabird]

If I was a young computer programmer pretty fresh out of school with no family (and that's critical) I'd do it. I'd be getting good benefits, start on retirement funds, be getting work experience, etc. However, once I decided to have kids, I'd have to go somewhere else, because crunch time and little kids just don't mix. So it'd be a job for the first few years, and then I'd move on.

But that's just me.

[elderdan]

Then go apply at Fog Creek or Microsoft.

...you think there's no crunch time at MSFT?

--The Elder Dan