As Balance dictates...or doesn't.
Pros
(+) Good pay. In my line of work, Riot paid above average compared to some of the other companies I've worked at. Also, as long as I notified them of work going into OT, it wasn't a big problem and for a single person like me, I didn't mind grinding a few extra hours for a time and a half. (+) Perks and benefits. Riot was the first job where I had full time benefits (I'm relatively young for my industry) and they were pretty good. Not only that, but there were a lot of perks that were given to employees to boost morale: A giant salad bar every week, a kitchen stocked with snacks and breakfast food, free stuff all the time (cookies, yoga mats, a stipend for video games, etc.). We even had a townhall every other Friday where we drank beer and watched presentations about new stuff for League and checked in on all areas of the company. Beer selection was good, too. (+) Enthusiastic employees. Pretty much everybody I worked with or knew in the company was excited to be there. Hell, I was too. Most people have a familiarity with the game and you can tell that they genuinely enjoy working at the company. (+) Office Equipment. I liked the computers and equipment I got to work with. Anything I needed for a particular project, I could send a request to IT and get it relatively soon. I had the best tech for my job and I was happy with it. (+) CEOs. Marc and Brandon, in my personal experiences with them, were very personable and down to earth. Even with the company growing exponentially, they knew what I was working on and seemed to take a genuine interest in my success. I never felt any of it was contrived. Although I can't say I worked with them directly on a lot of things (just small projects here and there), so my opinion is for the most part personal and not professional. (+) Interesting work projects. I mean, working at a video game company. It was really, really cool. I was doing something my friends were envious of and I actually liked what I was working on. Not a lot of people can genuinely say that.
Cons
(-) Office Location. At first, I thought it wouldn't be a big problem. But, as I got bogged down in work and the hours got longer, I was getting home at 8:30 PM on AVERAGE, which even for a young person like myself, was too much. You pretty much want to live in the general area of Santa Monica where Riot is if you want to have a more reasonable work/life balance. Coming from the east side of LA, it was just insane and the commute just took the wind out of me. Now, you might say, "Well, that's on you, not Riot" and you'd be absolutely correct. However, the company's location pretty much provides two options for an employee: 1.) You live close to the LAX office, which is extremely costly in terms of housing and some of the cheaper areas in the vicinity of Santa Monica might not be places where you'd like to live, especially with a family. 2.) Deal with a crummy commute to/from work living further out. Just be prepared for an hour plus commute if you're anywhere above or below the 405 or past downtown on the I-10. The 10 in the morning is just ridiculous. (-) Work/Life Balance. This started out okay, but as my department got busier and busier and made additional hires for an increasing number of projects, it slowly got a little out of control. As I said before, Riot has a lot of great/talented people and I enjoyed working with them, but I enjoy a life outside of work as well. They had a number of groups and company field trips which were fun, but I don't want to live at my work. It got to the point where a lot of my friends outside of work were concerned about the amount of time I was spending at work and it didn't slow down the entire time I was there. Sure, I got OT and plenty of it, but sometimes you need a rest, and having to work twelve days in a row is a bit much. By the end of it, I was just burnt out and I didn't want to see the office at all. (-) Narcissism/Lack of Hubris. Another poster already mentioned the embarrassing St. Patrick's Day event of 2012, but I agree wholeheartedly with him about it. The company trip to Vegas was outlandish as well. I remember walking through the penthouse of the Palms Hotel watching everybody go wild like it was college. It just seemed to reinforce this false sense of invincibility some in the company seemed to have due to the meteoric rise of League. I was wondering how Riot wasn't just hemorraging money left and right with all the things they were doing for employees, professional players, business ventures, etc. All the lavish expenditures by Riot reminded me of the 30 for 30 documentary on ESPN, "Broke", where professional athletes detailed how they spent/wasted their fortunes and advised viewers how this "invincibility" you feel won't last once the money stops coming in. Hopefully for them, they realize it sooner than later. (-) Confusing management hierarchy. I come from an industry where I might have multiple bosses, but I work with a relatively small number of people that report to one or two supervisors. Riot had a more corporate structure, which was to be expected, but I felt so much of what I did was being reviewed or questioned by those who had nothing to do with my department. So much unnecessary bureaucracy. No, Financal executive, I don't really care for your opinion on my work, as you lack the expertise to give me an informed opinion. Also, their opinions shouldn't factor in my performance reviews for the same reasons and yet they did because of this nonsense. I know Riot was hiring at a massive rate in 2012, but don't give employees authority that interferes with my work simply for the reason that they need something to do. That's ridiculous and inefficient. So many times I would read an e-mail giving an opinion where I just think, "Who is this person and why should I care what they have to say?" (-) Issues with the game. While Riot has hired the best and brightest, there's so many problems the game still has even after 3+ years of its release. Still no replay system on the live client, still having major problems with server downtime, releasing champions that just absurdly better than older champions, forcing the player into "buying power" because they simply cannot grind the IP to compete with people who can. Unacceptable for a game that wants to be the banner game of E-Sports. The thing is, Riot is on top right now and popular. But, without a sense of direction for the game (to make it have more replay value and not get stale) and a reckless spending of money, it will go downhill very fast unless they change course.
