OK for a while, boring in the long run - Software Developer Bloomberg Employee Review

2.0
Sep 11, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Non work related: the pay is pretty good, the building is fancy, they have free drinks + snacks. There are a lot of outside of work activities that are not only offered but also strongly encouraged, such as donations, food/backpack drives, gardening, etc. Also, there are lots of free tickets given out to cool events in the city that you would otherwise never have access to. Work related: you get to work on projects that affect a lot of people, and depending which group you land into you may love the work you do. The management is less "flat" than what I was told it was like when I joined (early 2009), but there are definitely fewer hierarchical barriers than at most other places.

Cons

Bloomberg has tons and tons of legacy code, mostly in Fortran and C, and to add insult to injury, it's rarely commented/documented/explained in any shape or form -- when you make a function call, you often enter magic land. While there are no new Fortran files (company policy), you will almost certainly have to at least look at lots of Fortran in debugging it, and you may need to make code additions for bug fixes. Bloomberg is a fast paced company (due to it being driven by Finance), but this means that you focus on getting the final product done ASAP -- which can be exciting -- but rarely will you get the chance to take time and properly design and develop a product, or refactor old code that, while not technically broken, is inefficient.

Explore other reviews about Bloomberg

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company, in this role you have the chance to learn about the financial markets, the terminal, and also you get client exposure.

Cons

Not really cons, culture is great.

2.0
May 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great Office, Free Snacks and plenty of social events

Cons

Be prepared for a heavily politicised culture — it's pervasive and affects day-to-day working life significantly. The organisation suffers from clear in-group favouritism at the leadership level, where certain groups are visibly preferred for opportunities, recognition, and advancement. This creates an uneven playing field and quietly damages morale for those outside those circles. Leadership collaboration leaves a lot to be desired. In four years, I didn't experience a single structured team-building or bonding initiative — a telling sign of how little investment goes into people and team cohesion. Perhaps most concerning is the approach to compliance. Raising legitimate concerns or challenging existing practices is met with significant resistance from senior stakeholders, rather than genuine engagement. A culture where pushback replaces accountability is one worth approaching with caution.

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