Cool startup vibe hides rigid sales culture. Great early in your career but not for anyone with hard earned experience
Pros
Friendly Culture with a sincere, welcome effort to be inclusive and supportive of diversity. Management really wants to make things better even if they don’t know how or why it’s not
Cons
If you come with broad skills or background ( something normally very desirable) this is not the place for you. Crippling reliance on flogging Microsoft tools and ecosystem stalls actual innovation and technical leadership. Just about any project outside the delivery of specific Microsoft tools is stalled because of the absence of skills that would be normal anywhere else. This gap is self generated by the company. Over reliance on Microsoft Certs does not create broad expertise for innovation and certainly not trust with senior client leadership that Avanade is speaking with unbiased open voice and vision. Somehow management doesn’t get this and just redoubles efforts to sell Microsoft tooling projects. Management thinks that equals innovation. It isn’t. There is a narrowing funnel of opportunity with this focus. . Absolutely nothing wrong with Microsoft tooling. It’s great. Really. But client needs cannot be defined only through that lens. The Career Advisor model is well intentioned. But advisors are chosen or assigned with no attention to actual leadership or mentoring skills. Recognize that not every senior person can be a leader. Normal in any company, But knowing this, don’t let advisees suffer as a result. The well intentioned Career Advisor program is destructive when it need not be.
