Positive Reviews of Bridgewater

Positive Reviews:

current employee says:
August 21, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I’ve been working at Bridgewater for about 2 years and I’m really happy with my job, so I want to give you guys the perspective of someone who is enthusiastic about the company.

Reading the comments about “negative culture” and “pissing contests” feels like looking at Bridgewater through a funhouse mirror… I recognize the activities that the posters are describing, but the descriptions are completely missing the point. Bridgewater values getting to the right answer through open-minded debate, and personal growth via learning from mistakes. Obviously, if those are your values, you’re going to spend a lot of time focusing on problems and giving critical feedback, but I really believe that the vast majority of the time the intent is to make the team better and help people grow, and if you’re able to check your ego at the door and engage with it you can learn and gain responsibility really quickly. There are always exceptions, of course, but by and large I would say that people really care about each other and that when words like “truth” and “openness” get thrown around it’s because people are genuinely trying to get to the right answer.

I can’t relate to “Name withheld by request” ‘s comments about hierarchy and pissing orders — you’re allowed to and supposed to question your manager, included going above him if he gives you crappy answers. I’ve seen this happen on numerous occasions, and I’d say I’ve given more critical feedback to my boss than visa-versa. The leaders of the company really encourage people speaking up; the founder replies to emails from anyone in the company, for instance. So, when I read the other comments on this thread, my first reaction is to wonder why they aren’t openly asking the questions and working through them: this is one of the rare places that you can actually do that. If they’re really convinced that everyone around them is just cynically mouthing the company’s ideals without really meaning them, then a) I’m not sure why they haven’t left yet, and b) I think that probably says more about them than it does about Bridgewater.

When I’m interviewing people for jobs there, I emphasize that it’s not for everyone: it’s a demanding environment, and you have to really want to grow as a person and get to the best answers. People with big egos, or who just want a paycheck, or who want to work on cool stuff but don’t want to engage at a personal level don’t do well there. A lot of people aren’t interested in that kind of thing, and that’s fine — there are plenty of other places to work. Personally, though, I’ve had an amazing experience: I think I’ve learned more in my last two years than in any other period of my life. The people I’ve met there are incredibly talented, great people who I really trust. Anyway, you shouldn’t take this second hand — if what I’m describing resonates with you, check the place out and form your own opinion of what it’s like.

Can't says:
October 28, 2009 at 9:43 am
I joined BW in October 2008 and left in July 2009. I had a very up and down experience. I happened to come across this website because as I was telling someone at my new company about life at BW he thought I was joking. People on the outside don’t understand.

Sounds cultish right? It is. I actually said that to my former manager when she was interviewing me and she agreed. You have to drink the cool-aid to survive there. Here is a bit of clarity on BW.
BW is very elite or so most of the kids think so. I say this because the median age is 28 and the vast majority of the employee’s come from the top tier schools. With that said BW does hire from all walks of life. I am an example of that.

The interview process varies from division to division. 100% of the time you will be judged on your cultural fit. I have had both an external interview and an internal interview. Getting in the door of BW was easy for me. I was a culture fit and I was capable. However, as I continually reflected on what I was doing and where I was going I realized that my role was not my passion. So I raised that to my manager. (2 things 1. Yes this is how they talk you should learn the buzz words quickly if you join BW and 2. Yes if you feel that you are not a good fit for your role you are encouraged to raise that without fear of being fired.) As I searched for a new role that would be a better fit for me I continued to do my job and interview in other areas. I interviewed for over 8 weeks with one department. 8 weeks and 14 people. This as I pointed out in my feedback to the department was badness. There was an obvious weakness in their ability to interview and they needed to drill down to find what the root cause of their inability to make a decision was.

Let me explain the process:

I met 2 senior colleges. They asked me questions about what my current role was, why I came to BW, what I liked and what I disliked about BW, how I could make a larger impact in another area, ect.. These general questions allowed them spring boards for peppering of questions. Why did you move to CT? What logic was behind it? How has the culture helped/frustrated you? Why do you think that weakness X is your biggest weakness? Seems your ego is talking when you say that you are more a creator? Have you painted yourself in a box? (Team Dimensions Test). This is more like the questions you get at a rapid fire rate. As you try to explain and say something they will just jump in and you need to be quick with an answer. It is very similar to a lawyer in a court room. I answered all their questions honestly (a must) and asked them for feedback. They both told me that they are not too sure that I would be a good fit in that department as it was too process oriented, but they needed time to think. I had many more interviews like this with this department. An interesting interview I had with a Leverager started out bad and ended pretty much the same. She had her head down at her desk when I showed up for the interview. I went to her assistant and asked if I could go in. She said no. So I waited. The Leverager came out in about 10 mins. looking for me and asked if I had been here the whole time. I said yes. She then proceeded to ask me why I had not come in and why I thought her time was more important than my time. And if I felt that I was less important than her and how long would I have waited. Threw me off a bit but that is pretty normal to just ask what you are thinking. There is no filtering at BW. As I was finishing up with her she asked me to write out all the things that you could use a brick and a blanket for in 2 mins.

From those answers that I gave she assessed that I was too creative for the role and I would be bored. And ultimately it turned out that I would just be unhappy with the monotony that they did day in and out. I was more suited as a SMA. I did not pursue this. Remember this is just my experience all departments are different. However, for the most part it is a long process so you have to be patient if this is where you want to be.

At BW you are challenged everyday. There is no stagnate bar. You are expected to give 100%+ everyday and if you don’t you will know about it. You have to be able to handle that as well. As I learned my biggest weakness is giving Personal Negative Direct Actionable Feedback. This is a very common weakness with people as most have never experienced this type of culture in any other professional setting. But I was working on this problem. As long as you identify and are willing to admit problems/weaknesses and then work to overcome them you are living the culture. The working environment varies in each department. I had a bad group and didn’t mesh with my senior. We tried to talk it out but it was just not going to work. However, I did make a lot of friends and as a previous post stated it’s true you really don’t have time for outside friends. (And most of your outside friend’s prob. will not understand you after you start working there anyway). At BW there is no work life balance. It is said the average work day is 10 hr. That is a lie. An average work day is about 12-14 hours. And if you think that you are leaving in 10hrs. and people are ok with that you are more than likely wrong. Most areas have capacity issues and try to fix it by the staff that they have. Mostly because they interview 1000 people and pick 1 leaving the department underwater until they find the “someone who has that sparkle”.

BW does pay well, but don’t be fooled by the bonus and raise. Most people do not exceed on “meeting expectations” (Which by the way is good), this means that you will get the standard raise and the company tends to stay even on their grade so you most of the time get your target bonus. The bonuses are broken out by an equation summed to: 25% company 75% you. There is a large algorithm that goes to that but that’s the short. Also, take your base pay and divide by 60-70hrs a week and see if you still think that the pay is good.

BW feeds you, offers a lot of social events geared towards you co-mingling (re-socialization), they pay 100% of health insurance for you and your family, they have rock star buses that bring you to/from work if you live in the city, Ray opens up his homes in both VT and Mexico, if you are too tired to drive home you can stay for free at the “Look Out”, they have drill down bars in 3 of the 4 locations (Friday afternoons everyone goes to the internal bar). Most importantly, BW ups your game. Forces you to think more critically and logically then you ever have before. I learned more there in the few months I was there then anywhere.

As BW is a very intense place to work it can be very rewarding. I am at a new place running a division and some of the stuff that seems really inefficient and ridiculous at BW such as the Issue Logging (of everything that makes you want to kick your chair), the 5 step process to problem solving, the scripted Drill Downs, the Believable parties, the Double-Do, the Issue Log meetings, the lack of full knowledge firm wide (Nobody but Ray and maybe Greg Jenson have the full BW picture), I can see some value in these things now. I guess it is always easier to Monday morning QB.
Feel free to give me feedback.

Can't says:
October 30, 2009 at 11:31 am
To answer an above question: Would they coincider a second shot? Depends entirerly if what you messed up was not in line with the culture. If you are not a culture fit, more then likely no.

current employee says:
February 22, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Ok, for the longest time I’ve been reading these comments, finding them amusing, if nothing else, and saying to myself “who cares, don’t waste your time posting”. But, lately, with the string of (mostly) negative posts, I felt compelled to say a short bit and try to clear things up.

First, a decent amount of the info posted has some truth to it, but only at a very basic sense. Yes, people have huge egos. Yes, the power structure is very top heavy. Yes, you work long hours. Yes, it can be soul-draining. Yes, the compensation is very good. Yes, the Bridgewater culture is something the company truly (tries) to live by, good and bad. Yes, a lot of the workers are ‘young guns’ straight out of ivy-league schools. HELLO- none of what i said above (save the Culture part) is different at ANY top financial job. You think the IB’s at Goldman dont have egos, work 15 hours a day, and come from Harvard or equiv? So for any of you who would use the previous paragraph as reasons to not want to work for Bridgewater, then you probably aren’t cut out for the financial world in general. That’s just how it is.

For full transparency- I am a current employee at Bridgewater, but have only been working under a year, and I don’t have one of the top-paying jobs for people my age (26). So, I have no reason to pump up the company just to try to make it sound good. Yes, I’m glad to be working here, but I am so far down the totem pole that I have nothing to gain by trying to “trick” random strangers into thinking highly of our company. Bottom line is, you dont become the biggest (in terms of AUM) and best (based on industry surveys; I know the term “best” can have many meanings) by being a terrible company.

Now, having said that, bridgewater CAN be a VERY tough place to work. We have one of the highest turnover rates of any legit company. Part of that is because of the incredibly high standards, and part of that is because many people used to the more “typical” corporate world, really CAN’T (or don’t want to) handle the bridgewater “principles” and “cultures”. (Note- i put these terms in parenthesis not because i think they are foolish, but simply because they are actual terms we use). The people in the big money roles world ungodly hours sometimes, but again, that’s industry-standard. Anyone working in IB or PE or consulting can tell you that.

As for pay, the Bridgewater motto is “north of fair”. So if you are a research data analyst, and the numbers show that a typical DA at a tier 1 HF make X, bridgewater typically offers in the 75th%. They dont want to lose top talent due to money, but they dont believe in insanely wild offers either. Also, BECAUSE bwater is so unique, they do not offer as high compensation in the beginning (your first year) as they do each year after that. Because they know many people wont stick around after 1-2 years, but those that truly DO fit, get rewarded accordingly.

Also, i can PROMISE you, all these people above writing the nastier things (no one does any work; nothing gets done; its a big pissing contest) are people who got fired or couldnt handle the job in one way or another. Because like I said, you dont get some of the biggest pension funds in the world to give you their money if “nothing gets done”. Its simply not true. Yes, bridgewater believes in seeking truth at all costs, and perfection- so yes there are many meetings, and diagnosises, etc. and the company admits as much, saying sometimes things get done slower than at other places, because they value the best result more than simply acheiving SOME result.

As to the interview process- again, because bridgewater places such a high value on their culture and principles, yes the interview process is not a typical one. For example, for MBA students applying for investment associate roles, you will have NO investment-related questions in your interview. Bridgewater believes in their leaders and trainers, and they would rather hire an incredibly smart person with no financial experience, and try to train them in the Bwater way, than some hotshot who knows “everything” about the economy and is set in his beliefs. Those who are turned off by the interview experience, its kind of sad really, because the HR reps are great and tell everyone exactly the type of interview to expect- i know from experience, because when i was applying, i was explicitly told there would be no financial-type questions in the interview. Basically, if you graduated with top grades from a top school with a degree in finance/econ, and worked in a financial job, they dont need to ask you questions you have clearly studied for just to hear you regurgitate information. Obviously, you know something about the markets to make it that far. They are much more interested in evaluating you through “life” and “fit” interviews. (Obviously, the preceding does not apply to higher-level positions, such as head of research and what not).

Bottom line- i love working here, but i know the company (like any) has its fault. but to me, weighing the pros vs cons, i truly think its a unique place to work, the perks are amazing, you are surrounded by insanely intelligent people (and, yes, egotistical, but not all), and as corny as it sounds, it does truly breed a “family” like atmosphere. It’s definitely not a place for everyone- but if you are cut out for it, you will love it. I’d suggest REALLY reading the website (bwater.com) and reading Ray’s (the founder) philosophy page. the company really does work with that M.O.

Hope this has helped…

Emp says:
January 5, 2011 at 11:50 pm
exMcKtoBW: You asked for positive things about BW. I agree with 80%+ of the negative things on this board, but let me take a crack at this.

Most things that get discussed the most here are barely relevant to whether the company does well. Forget about the cult(ure); the new trading floor; the new offerings; how much BDQ sucks; how BDQ’s underlying databases suck even more; how long the next Trading director will last (hint: think short); how long the next CTO will last (hint: think shorter); whether Ops’s issue-log meetings are probing deep and hard enough; how many leveragers the Principles say are required to screw in a lightbulb; what widths the traders are getting on bond futures; which departments are having crises and drilldowns; or whether it was really necessary for everyone to get locked-down iPods just so they could take the Principles anywhere. Above all else, forget about Ray’s 1001 Management Principles and Other Nietzschean Lessons on Life, the Universe, and Hyenas. The only things that really matter are whether Research comes up with good ideas and, relatedly, whether clients have confidence to invest with the company.

1a) The Research department has good insights into how economies and markets work. When Research has more good ideas than bad, the company does well; when Research has more bad ideas than good, the company does poorly.

1b) BW’s basic ideas about separation of alpha and beta, about liability-hedging, and about the appropriate use of leverage are all great. If more people thought about portfolio management this way, the world would be a better place.

2) By and large, the CS department keeps clients happy, although with as many clients as BW has, P&I is bound to report on a couple spectacular failures. This is certainly easier when Research does its job well, but even then it can be a surprisingly tough job. The client advisers have to be able to say intelligent things about BW’s views on the markets, synthesize BW’s ideas about portfolio management into the clients’ traditional mindsets, and shepherd skittish clients through downward or flattish blips and the occasional dunderheaded trade (Google: “Bridgewater depression mode”). As I say, I think it’s a tough job, but BW gets good results.

3a) Ray comes under fire for a variety of reasons, but he’s ultimately a decent guy. I think few people on this board would have anything to say against Ray personally.

3b) Bridgewater is not Bernie Madoff. Contrary to the speculation of John Testo and a few others on this board who don’t know what they’re talking about, BW is very serious about compliance and accounting, and Bridgewater will not be the subject of SEC/CFTC discipline or client lawsuits any time soon.

4) Also, there’s a bunch of ex-McK people at BW. (It must be a breeding ground for “conceptual thinkers.”) So that’s good if you liked working with McK people, or bad if you didn’t, but for me it’s neither here nor there.

5) Many of the entertainment committee’s events are great.
The big company parties used to be cool, but now they just prove that money can’t buy fun.
The guest speakers are a mix of the good (e.g., John McCain’s stump speech and Q&A), the bad (e.g., Ambassador Ji Chaozhu, whose genuinely fascinating life failed to come through among his rambling tangents into traditional Chinese naming conventions, wheat vs. rice, etc.), and the kooky (e.g., David Lynch and the Maharishi people).