I'm interviewing for a Software Developer role at Bridgewater Associates. The recruiter is telling me that this place has a very unique Culture. Very focused on criticism. Not sure if it's a warning or just an interesting opinion. Any insiders?
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/business/dealbook/bridgewater-associates-hedge-fund-culture-ray-dalio.html Definitely a unique culture...
I was there for over 2 years - culture is very team dependent. If you end up with a manager who doesn’t care much / does a surface level principles then it’s like any other place but with added overhead of dots, issue logs, etc. If they are super into it then you’ll feel it more. I was in client service, but my understanding was that in tech (Investment Engine) culture stuff is way less important - you can’t retain people in tech when you got culture drag plus being in a middle of nowhere CT. I think a bigger deal than culture is the commute. I95 is terrible and if you live in NYC it’s 2 hours one way. So think about it that.
Isn't it 1 hour by train each way? (Assuming you live close to Grand Central). There's also a company bus everyday.
Definitely not 1 hour. I took the bus for over a year before COVID from midtown. I left at 6:45 am and got into the office around 8:20 ish. On the way back traffic hits hard - quite a few times I left at 7 and didn’t get home till 9 / 10 cause traffic was so bad. On a more normal day it was home by 8:30. I never consistently took the train but I wouldn’t recommend - train is your expense bus is free, plus you then need to take a shuttle or Uber from train station to Nyala office. Total time is about the same.
Unique culture is a charitable phrase. Never seen a more extreme and dysfunctional management style. Surprisingly bureaucratic with lots of management overhead created by Ray Dalio. Brilliant investors though at the top. Radical transparency and culture scales terribly as the org gets larger.
How does the culture compare to Netflix feedback-based culture?
I am not too familiar with netflix, but I believe this radical honesty has similarities. BW is in finance and hires many people straight from school, far less technology automation. Smart people doing manual things. Netflix only hires experienced
It’s focused on “radically transparent feedback” which to some folks probably translates as criticism - the culture at Bridgewater is definitely unique, but it’s one that a lot of folks also find refreshing once you’re used to it.