I came on board thinking I would be in a team of winners, building the greatest stuff ever. Bleh, no so fast buster. GC4S is all about integration, putting stuff together. And with the way government forces defense contractors to work, you can be assured that the results are less than stellar.
Software development skills are atrocious to say the least. You see "senior" people who do not know they can define constants for array sizes. That just gives you an idea. My heart goes to anyone who starts a career here, because he/she will be exposed to everything in the "what not to do" list on a daily basis.
Middle management is really nice when dealing in person. It is the layers and layers of incompetent people in the trenches, and more layers and layers of contractors who, like barnacles on a ship, drag everything to a halt while milking the OT.
Upper management, the CEO and accompanying VP's, they are ultimately responsible for this horrendous work culture. There is no vision of quality of purpose. It just about keeping the gravy grain, serving business as usual, ultimately sponsored by us tax payers.
You try to be positive, and the rest will drag you down. Unless you are lucky and end up working with a positive team, you will be eaten to the bones by the hordes of rank-n-file zombies who still write software and design hardware as if they were in the early 70's (but with egos that will make you think they are the newest Steve Jobs or something).
Even worse is the level of dishonesty and unprofessional ism displayed - people actually go into source control and replace peoples' names with their own (to claim their contribution). That just gives you an idea.
So either actively look to work with a positive group (they are there, if you look hard and are lucky enough), or get out fast if you care about your skills and soul.
I can recommend this company because, hey, people need to make a decent living. If you are lucky, you can end up working with good people. If you are diligent and hard working, stability is there for you.
However, you will have to make a decision on how much you want to deal with toxic environment created by so many incompetent, dishonest people that you will inevitably come in contact with.
This is really a difficult place for one to progress professionally/technically. If you join, join with your eyes fully open.
