I worked for BioWare on a contract basis for one and a half years. The company definitely has its ups and downs however I beleive that the ups outweight the downs.

One of the benefits to working at BioWare is definitely the culture. Everyone that works at BioWare is very passionate about thier job and it's very seldom that you work with the 9 to 5er who just comes in to get their paycheque. However the downside to the culture is that there is a large portion of their staff that are on a contract basis. This is understandable when relating it to the life cycle of work that's done at a videogame company, however the unfortunate thing is that even when there is an absolute standout employee I do not feel as though they try hard enough to keep them as full time staff once the contract finishes.

Again the culture is still an amazing thing to see at BioWare as it is a culture that in my opinion very very few companies can or ever will acheive. There is plenty of opportunities to join different groups of employees whether its joining a Magic the Gathering group who play at lunches, or joining a soccer group of employees who play weekly in the summer after work, or even joining a photography club or a Super Street Fighter intrest group, all these employees are always more than welcoming to new people. That being said, BioWare isn't a company without it's internal politics, however most people are very professional and the politics at least stay for the most part behind closed doors.

The schedule you work at BioWare can be very demanding when it comes to crunch time, however for anyone thinking of working in the videogame industry this should not come as a suprise, and BioWare does try and do what they can to minimize how long crunch lasts for. However, the workload many staff have on thier shoulders is much too great for one person. This is where I beleive BioWare fails the employees is that they have a very weak business model and do not have a very defined process in which things get done. They also lack a continous improvement mindset which is dissapointing.

The compensation at BioWare is fairly weak except for those who are superstar programmers or are in the higher management levels, however even then i don't think that it is very comparable to many companies out there. The Benefits at BioWare are very good if a little standard, however they do have healthly living initiatives as well as technology upkeep initiatives. The breakfasts provided in the morning are nice and is a definite bragging point for many that work there but defintitely not a deal breaker.

For many the flexibility for most people at BioWare is nice, most positions can determine their own work schedule and you are never second guessed if you need to take off early one day (because the assumption is that you have likely made up or will make up those hours at a later time when the project gets very busy).

For those people who get stressed out, this is NOT a job for you. If you cannot handle a fair amount of stress on your plate I would highly recommend that you avoid working for BioWare, because from the top management down to the admin assistants there is always a certain amount of stress, however for those that can handle it, you will find working for BioWare a fantastic challenge and will learn a lot and will likely love being there. I often found myself working from home on the weekends, or staying at the office until late, not because I had to, but because I wanted to and i was passionate about what I was doing.

The only warning I will give anyone looking at working for BioWare is that if you get a contract position, definitely start saving your money as there is a very unlikely chance that you will get hired full time during your contract.

Posted on 10 May 2012 by Rater #18 | Flag as inappropriate

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