Top 3 Awesome Qualities I Look for in a Company...
Pros
I highly recommend to seasoned software engineers to Captivation Software. Top 3 important qualities I look for in a company: - Leadership / Management Style - Compensation - Work/Life Leadership / Management Style ---------------------------------------- This company is very software development & engineering centric, even the leadership and the foundering members are developers and engineers. Having said that, I believe they not only understand the business side of things, but also the technical side of things. I really like how Captivation Software has the small company feel without all the red tape. Unlike larger companies that will impose on employees the following: - Performance appraisals for employees (self assessment) - Non-billable monthly meetings (during work days) - Unnecessary HR training sessions - Assisting in proposal work (no compensation) - etc. Highly experienced employees (or leadership) are often available to provide technical & architectural advice to you and the customers, so you are never alone. In other words, communication at the company is excellent from discussing HR/Payroll to software design advice! There isn't the layers of management you'll find at larger companies especially in this sector(IC). You can chat with any person at the company and they are always friendly & welcoming of any type of feedback. Compensation ------------------- Because Captivation tries to be lean by keeping overhead low the company can afford to be transparent (upfront) when it comes to salary & benefits. This allows them to offer higher than average bill rates and have the best 401k plan (AFAIK). Of course, there are other very good benefits at Captivation, such as HSA, company contributed to medical insurance. Work/Life balance ----------------------- While the company will help you succeed in your career the company also values your down time (family/friends). The company takes this pretty seriously, and are willing to discuss reduced hours or the possibility to work remotely. This also depends on the contracts & positions available. *As a side note: During the pandemic Covid19, Captivation Software took immediate action to work with customers, state and federal government to keep employees on the payroll even when worksite facilities had been forced shutdowns. Captivation really step up and took care of our family and all of the employees during this crisis (everything from PPE to coordinations with facilities).
Cons
While no company is perfect, I will touch on some of the cons that most companies have even at Captivation Software. The majority of opportunities are working in government and contractor facilities and often will have the following requirements. 1. The majority of the positions require a TS-SCI clearance 2. Limited remote opportunities (working at home) 3. No tech equipment or training budget. #1 There are some positions that do not require clearances. I'm only mentioning that the mass majority of opportunities do require clearances. Time will tell :-). #2 There are many projects in the process of making access and resources available and many customers are wanting to move in that direction because of the pandemic. #3 Because the company is giving you a higher bill rate it's not set aside for you. This is negotiable.
