1. Unless you are so passionate about the financial technology space and revolve your entire career before retirement around it, sure, start at Bloomberg, but know that the only common exit options are Reuters, Dow Jones, Wind, FactSet. Yes, you're not even good enough for ratings agencies like S&P and Moody's.
2. People of the middle management a) treat you like a kid who does not know how to do "business", b) look down on you as an intellectual individual, and c) personally harass you.
a) Usually, people in the middle management are those who only worked for Bloomberg, and they claim themselves to be experts on business management and development in front of freshly hired young smart kids, some of whom even interned and worked for companies like McKinsey, BCG, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc. This is kind of like comparing between a Mechanical Engineering professor and an undergrad who majored in accounting on the matter of whom to trust for keeping your books updated. Just because you're older does not mean you're more qualified and brighter.
b) Most of the people in the middle management grew with the company when Bloomberg was clearly the second place in the market compared to Reuters, and these people in the standards of today, are not quite academically and professionally qualified, but loyal as a dog to the company because they themselves know they are not qualified to go anywhere else in the world (maybe, except for customer service roles at a department store or at best, Nike). Yet, they look down on you as kids who need to "learn more" because you supposedly lack the "knowledge" when you graduated from top-tier universities, interned or worked full-time for intellectually demanding companies. If you are a member of the current generation looking for jobs, just because Bloomberg is now big does not mean it is befitting for your intellectual and professional capacities.
c) I had a boss who would call me consistently because I am late from coming back from an 1-hour lunch by two minutes for fulfilling my basic biological duties as a human being (yes, to urinate.) If they would harass you for that, imagine what kind of treatment you would get for other issues and events.
3. There is no upward mobility or a better future that young employees could look forward to. Again, because people in the middle management grew with the company and have nowhere else to go, they usually stay at the company for at least 6-7 years, up to 20 years. There are so few leadership roles that entail creativity, proper responsibility, and excitement, and they are already hogged by unqualified members of Bloomberg's past glories. I know of so many seniors who at first had so much faith in the company, stayed, and are now regretting it not because they are unqualified, but just because there are no opportunities and rooms for growth due to Mr. Mike Bloomberg's paranoid obsession with dogmatic loyalty.
4. Do not fall for what Bloomberg claims to be a "lucrative" compensation package. Taking into consideration your qualifications, you are heavily underpaid. You are only paid more than the local human talent pool who virtually paid little to no tuition for cheap local university and who work for local firms in the city. The bonus scheme is also practically inexistent because as a private company, Mr. Mike Bloomberg just loves stuffing his own stomach.
5. One major selling point to job seekers is that Bloomberg offers all these wonderful training sessions. Do not be fooled. The training is glamorously titled under luxurious financial terms, but in truth, you are brainwashed with knowing how to use your fingers to give repetitive answers. Essentially, you are being taught how to teach your 90 year old grandmother on using Microsoft Office or the e-mail.
6. Overall, there exists an unfixable culture of hypocrisy. On the surface, they would market themselves as an innovative technology firm that encourages taking initiatives and creativity, but once you do take initiatives and try to demonstrate your creativity so passionately, they flunk you down with the stubborn adult-look, as if "you young kids just don't know how to do things." Simply put, the company is liberal and free on the outside, but conservative and jail-like in the inside. If you consider yourself to be a straightforward, no-BS, honest, and honorable man/woman, Bloomberg is not the place to be. Have some love for yourself, fellow millennials!
