Potentially a good studio, but lots of growing to do.
Pros
Lots of variety in projects. Fun team events in and around San Diego. Good flex time policy. Outstanding pantry, and good support for people working late hours. Probably a good place for someone just getting into game development. Staff is young, and seems to enjoy mentoring junior developers.
Cons
From top to bottom, Psyonix operates more like an old group of buddies, rather than a professional business. Compensation offers are the lowest I've seen on the west coast, bar none. No ramp up procedures for new employees. First day you are shown your desk, and then you wait. Attempts to figure things out are met with annoyance, and a sense that you are intruding at someone else's exclusive club. Requests to HR for information are met with similar results. No concept of how to deal with senior-level employees coming in from other companies. Your experience, and ideas are meaningless because you haven't been with the company very long. Long-term programmers were the primary source of artistic feedback because of this. Weight of input during meetings or discussions is based almost entirely on your tenure with Psyonix - few exceptions to this rule. Coming in earlier than almost everyone is ignored, but not staying late with everyone is seen as poor work ethic. Internal dialog about external clients is overwhelmingly negative. Enthusiasm for most work projects among the staff is non-existent. Everyone seems extremely put-out when working for paying clients instead of internal IP. This fosters an environment where neither the client, or the work being done for them is respected. There is a lot of cynicism, and it makes it difficult to find your own enthusiasm. Review process is the strangest I've ever experienced. Everyone in the company is permitted to review you, regardless of whether they work with your or not. All scores are then weighted equally, and an average is produced. This average determines your official performance at the company, and informs all decisions associated with ongoing employment. I'm not sure how this is useful to anyone - but it does allow the CEO to maintain a hands-off attitude. Something that I would imagine is important when your company consists largely of long-term friends.
