Pros
The opportunities, the scale of the company and the projects and the chance to push yourself as had as you want. Black & Veatch is truly a global company, and the opportunities to travel, to work in different fields and to work on huge, difficult projects are there, if you want them. There is also (unfortunately) too much opportunity to just warm a seat, to the detriment of the whole organization. Overall, better than any organization of a comparable size and scale that I have seen, but not yet all the way to its potential, especially with regards to an understanding of how to match skills to the market.
Cons
The occasionally Byzantine nature of the politics and the difficulty in keeping focus on the essentials, are the worst elements. Like any organization full of ambitious people, there are occasional lapses into shameless careerism, to the detriment of the overall organization, and unfortunately too often rewarded. In addition, we seem to have strayed (occasionally) from the essential wisdom of the founders “Get, Work, Do Work, Make Money”. Perhaps a bit simplistic these days, but still a better focus on what we actually do than other attempts. A clearer match between strategy and the markets needs to be implemented, but that as for all comparable organizations is easier said than done.
