Q&A With Electronic Arts (EA) Employees

Depends on team. Teams in my location didn't have them at first because there was no budget. If they did have them, they were lunch at a local place.

We have about two team outings every year. Each game has a wrap party, and each studio has a holiday party.

What team outings? I haven't heard about, or been to one at least in the last year

Whomever they like personally gets the promotion. I have seen 1 promotion in 2 years that I felt was at least partially based on merit. I've seen numerous promotions that occurred because the manager thought the other person was cute.

I worked with some of the best and worst people at EA. I found my contacts based non-US studios were amazing at times. Friendly and open. While my US counterparts were often insensitive, sloppy, and a mess.

Gamers. Most employees at EA are gamers at heart. They prefer to spend their spare time gaming.

Great! Smart, creative, collaborative and dedicated !

Diversity in US studios could be better, but US studios work directly with non-US studios, and it helps. Diversity training in the US studios would be great.

Employees are predominantly white males, which is a bit unusual even for the tech industry. Only a handful of non-white males on each team and even fewer women.

That the company stock is like a rocket soaring up to the sky. If I had known, I would not have sold my stock immediately after vesting!

The almost-quarterly reorganization of teams.

Generally, they do not permit permanent work from home situations. There are exceptions but it's usually on a case by case basis.

1 day

Good & getting better. The best people in the industry at balancing art & science work here.

For working at a a company obsessed with self-image and being #1, EA's employees are surprisingly humble and diligent. This is a really good trait in my opinion and it results in cohesive, driven, thoughtful teams. If you show up with the skills for the job and a basic level of confidence, but without a personal ego, I suspect you're much more likely to get the job.

Basic health insurance (vision, dental), 401K w/ match, gym reimbursement. (Nothing really amazing, the insurance is a PPO.)

Mobile is having the largest expansion, while console is having problems.

Varies. Again, none of this is standardized. You could have 3 interviews for one team, and only 1 phone call and an interview for another.

Varies from role to role. There really is no standardization in hiring which is going to cause problems for the company down the road.

Getting to work with new technology that's at enterprise level. Solving complex problems by creating new solutions. Low level of micromanagement.

This question assumes there is work/life balance. There isn't. Expect to be called about false emergencies while you're using PTO on your personal cellphone. (No, you won't get that time back, and no, the company won't give you equipment unless they like you.)

Beyond that, you put your time in through Workday, it may or may not require Manager approval. Try to use your days around the holidays because that's the only time you can guarantee anyone will leave you alone for 5 mins.

They're cyclical. They have a large body of contractors, so you'll see the same people only because they keep coming back for more abuse.

All work was challenging in the beginning, but with process refinement, can be managed. Generally, unrealistic expectations are the only true challenges at EA.

DDs, DMs, & PMs are not effectively managing team time, which then affects the entire project. Especially with Producers generating constant scope creep. This is really the only reason we have crunch time.

Incredibly difficult. Work/Life balance is almost non-existent for some roles. Expect to be at the "beck n' call" for people who have no respect for your evenings, weekends, or holidays.

Raises happen once a year. There's no merit or education based raises, so if you get a degree, certifications, etc. Don't expect anything for that.

If you're a dev, expect them to shut your project or studio down at some point and move you clear across the country, if you're not just fired/laid off. If you're in an operation's role, you can be there forever. Even if they shut your studio down, you'll likely be able to interview and move into another role at another studio.

It's really easy to get hired at EA. They have high turnover.