Rapid growth means growing pains. I have other companies grow this fast and it can be difficult to hold your core values as you diversify in talent.
Housing cost in Orange County is outrageous. It's about $400-800/sq foot or about 2500-2800 for rentals ranging in the 1000 square foot range. This requires your base pay to be around 80k for a single person. More likely 100-120k for 2-3, 130k for a family of 4. This means that both parents likely need to be working.
The health benefits are expensive compared to other companies and what you get from them. though the recent changes are better, they are not as good as what most of the comparable industry friends tell me.
Bonuses are great and get slightly larger the longer you are at blizzard. But the increases seem to have stagnated and stayed flat for a while now. It is still going up but not at the same rate as the first few years I was working. This maybe an individual thing.
Food options on campus just recently got slightly better. But expect to pay around $10 per meal on campus or in any of the locations in Irvine.
OC traffic has increased significantly in the past few years. A 20 minute commute consistently is now more like 40-50 during morning and evening rush hour. This means population growth is rapid in the area. Just in my area alone several condos and large rental units have been built all along my commute. Rapid growth means freeway and road congestion.
If it takes you 1 hour to commute and the pay is less than what you can get working in LA for example, it makes it hard for new talent to consider employment, and as the commutes and cost of living rise you risk loosing great talent as well (already starting to see this happen).
Irvine also suffers from rapid growing pains. Many new companies are moving in. The landscape is changing at a significant rate.
