Pros
- steady, they have been around and look to continue to be around for a long time - the Support Services department has supportive and flexible management - management listens to and reconciles with needs and concerns - great benefits - great work life balance - offers courses like 7-Habits and 5-Choices to increase productivity and strike that work life balance - Overall, they take an interest in the person - Big on excellent internal and external customer support - You feel like you're contributing and making a difference - You need something, ask and you shall receive (within reason) - They value continued education, and will reimburse. - CEO cares for the environment, and generally has good values. - GIS is an awesome field of study, and Esri is a good place to continue that study. - The UC is really fun. - AGOL is constantly improving - You'll learn a lot. - You'll be surrounded by fantastic people. - Creators of a great GUI based GIS platform, that everyone in GIS has heard of. - Great name to have on your resume.
Cons
- Technology is lagging in some areas, and the platform is not the most powerful GIS solution. For example, Pro is improving and handles rendering well, but geoprocessing is not yet truly 64-bit. - Proprietary (and expensive) software, confusing licensing and extensions. - Poor communication between development and support departments, but over the four years I was at Esri I saw improvement in this area. - Sometimes not a lot of respect from other departments towards support services. - As in any company, there are a few egos. - Your open source GIS buddies will remind you that you drank the Kool-Aid. - There's a ladder from support services to outside of support, it looks to take about 3 years, and that can be a frustrating experience for some. - Promotions are sometimes based off of merit, and sometimes based off of who you know and not your qualifications. - Greater micro managing in some departments. - Minimal career opportunities for regional offices.
