Bridgewater Associates Reviews

Pros

Overall, I feel very grateful that Bridgewater was my first job out of college. I had unparalleled exposure to senior management, was able to take on as much responsibility as I could handle, and I learned more about management and running a company than I realized until I went and founded my own company. At the time, I wasn't always sure how relevant all The Principles and The Culture was to quality management. Now, that I am out of my own I am much better able to navigate ambiguity and complicated decisions because I have a universal framework I can turn to to help me sort things out. The practical application is even clearer to me now, then it was then. Business insider has a great article talking to the CIO Bob Prince that's worth reading if you want to better understand the relationship between the culture and business outcomes. Beyond a ton of learning, the Bridgewater community is what I cherish most about my 5-years there. The culture of openness and honesty lends itself to extremely deep and meaningful relationships. When I left, it was the people that I was the most sad to leave but it's the people that I have stayed in touch with and make me still feel connected to Bridgewater. And I don't just mean who you would traditionally call my peers, I still keep in touch with my first managers who are almost twice my age. It is these unexpected friendships, and the perspectives they bring to my life, that I really treasure.

Advice to Management

At Bridgewater, I was part of the inaugural Management Associate (MA) class and spent my five years there as an MA working in multiple different departments across the company. One of the main reasons I left Bridgewater was that I felt disconnected from the bread and butter of the business - i.e. if I did well, my manager was happy and if I did poorly my manager was upset - but how I did didn't really affect Bridgewater and it's bottom line. I wanted my actions to be more connected to business outcomes. Since I was so early in my career, this was by and large is reasonable but I think there were ways Bridgewater could make Management Associate roles seems more integrated. For non-investment professionals, I think there could be more specific industry training around the basic fundamentals of how to think about markets in order to help bridge gaps in understanding and ensure people understand the business they are working to help run better.

Pros

high growth trajectory, high quality talent

Pros

They say what they mean, nothing is done behind your back

Pros

Culture of people who care about each other
Great perks - free lunch, free medical insurance, etc.
Generous salaries
People really care about getting their jobs done right

Advice to Management

Ease up on measuring everyone's work and stop evaluating people constantly. It's distracting. Plus, most people are perfectionists so they are holding themselves to super-high standards anyway

Pros

The people- given how much time people spend at work, the people I work with are important to me. I've worked in several groups now across the firm and have always made great friends and found the community to be strong. Id I had to choose 1 reason I continue to stay, it's the people.
Culture- it's not for everyone but for me, it's hard to imagine working somewhere I can't be honest about who I am, what I think and have open back and forths with others in the company. This is how we engage on ideas, feedback and work through projects. I've learned a ton about myself, have grown professionally from this and in my experience it has created more collaboration and better results.
Perks- they treat their people well. Free full lunches daily, free bus that picks up employees throughout NYC and brings them to front door of the office, great healthcare. Might sound silly but I really appreciate these things and they save me a ton of money.

Pros

Overall a wonderful place to build a career. Incredibly smart people in a culture that invests heavily in deep, honest relationships. Huge ability to add value and take on impactful roles a few years out of college. As an MA, one can also work in different departments and learn about the various components of the business - I am really learning how to be a good general manager. The new CEO's are very focused on improving the employee experience by working on initiatives such as mobility, diversity & inclusion etc.

Pros

people, growth & development opportunities

Pros

There are NO pros to working here.

Pros

Smart people, high standards, honest feedback

Pros

When I reflect back on who I was prior to coming to the firm 6 years ago, I was lost. I had no idea who I was, what my values were, why I cared about the things I cared about, why I got upset about the things I got upset about and what my purpose was in life, as a husband and as a father. Bridgewater taught me the art and power of deep and meaningful reflection. It has taught me and enabled me to recognize how wrong and overconfident I am and that no matter what I think it’s most critical to have top of mind the fact that I might be missing something and that it’s probably a good idea to worry about that and engage others on that to help me. It’s pretty genius and simple but yet most of the world (especially traditional hierarchical corporate America) does not think or operate this way. In short, here is a sentence from one of our principles “it pays to stress test your thinking, even when you're pretty sure you're right.”
At Bridgewater, we are all pushed to be excellent at everything we do. This is a reason that people don’t end up making it here and also a reason why people (like me) value being here even if we don’t have to. In order for me to achieve my own goals and find meaning and purpose in my life, Bridgewater is the place that will get me there fast. By way of others holding me highly accountable to a virtually unachievable standard every minute of every day, this is what enables me to grow.
There is no such thing as a pure, 100% idea meritocracy as people are people and imperfect by definition. However, our ideal and value of being an idea meritocracy is true and not lip service and when debates come up, the idea meritocracy approach always wins. The people that speak up with the problems are the heroes. The people that can then practically solve those problems are the ones being promoted to solve more difficult problems. I’ve sent sharp feedback emails directly to Ray, other CEOs and senior managers and instead of getting fired I’ve gotten quality and thoughtful engagement.
The hierarchy here is upside-down vs. most companies. As a leader gets higher in the organization they become more open minded. They recognize that the problems they are dealing with do not have easy solutions, that there will typically be a sharp divide among what people think is the right approach and there are big 2nd and 3rd order consequences no matter which path is chosen. Instead of having closed door meetings or just making a rash decision in their corner office and expecting everyone else to fall in line, they seek out the advice and opinions of others, even those at the very bottom of the organization. Sometimes these are the people that know the problems and consequences the best. This is why they listen to you and care about your opinions. If you are wrong, then it reinforces them being right. If you are right then they now have more work to do. Speaking up is always a win-win and is an easy thing to understand intellectually but actually doing it is the big hurdle. Most people come to Bridgewater with this being a weak muscle. They key, though, is each person’s values. If you value harmony, the path of least resistance and when you come to that fork in the road you know that speaking up is the best approach but you choose not to – you are not going to enjoy being here and won’t be successful (an attribute that we call tolerating problems – if you see the problem but don’t care enough to prioritize fixing it or ensuring someone else fixes it). If you recognize that speaking up is the better approach, you give it a try a few times and see how powerful it is. This muscle gets stronger and stronger until it’s just part of the way you think and navigate problem solving. You’ll see the successful paths you are paving and you won’t want to leave because you’ll see how fast you are growing and that most of the world doesn’t operate this way.
The last big pro is our justice system. At any time, if you have a disagreement that you can’t resolve with the other person you escalate up a level for a more wise judge to understand the situation and provide their opinion. If you still disagree, you keep escalating all the way up to the management committee. These are done out in the open and often times others agree with you. These are the important cases to go through slowly because a lot is learned not only about the actual business problem needing to be solved but about the people involved, what they are like and how they deal with and work through such tough situations. This process includes the cases where you feel your grade does not reflect your performance or when you think you should stay in a role vs. be let go or move to a different role. One of the key questions I have for people that highlight key problems in their online feedback is whether they raised the issue or not and if they did, did they keep fighting up the chain or give up?

Regarding benefits, Bridgewater pays 100% of the premiums for a platinum medical plan. This is huge for my family.

Advice to Management

Keep investing in and hiring quality open-minded leaders and visionaries. Invest more in hiring at the junior talent level and career development. Open up a west coast office and keep relaxing remote work options.