Upper management is a micromanaging virus that spreads its poison through its lower chain. At no point have they ever shown any true respect to their true workers. At one point the turn-over rate was so high they had to hire new developers every 6 months. To try and keep their dev teams happy they gave raises. It. Is. Not. Worth. It. In order to be on their good side, you basically need to drink their kool-aid-- which tastes like watered-down expired milk. The atmosphere and culture there is non-existent and is a simple punch-in/punch-out system. Zero diversity, nor is there any promotion for it.
At least the developers/engineers get paid comfortably for the Eau Claire area. I feel sorry for designers. The one designer (Web/UI) that used to work on the dev teams has told me he gets paid lower than developers but more than Graphic Designers. They get paid crap and have zero direction or inspiration. Every pitch they throw at management is laughed off or replied with, "Well, is it absolutely necessary?" Absolutely no process of idea --> management --> designer --> developer handoff. Its all over the place for them. While the world moves on with true user testing, user experience, user interface and more-- Menards is stuck on "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" old school mentality. I once saw upper management basically laugh in a Designer's face when he pitched some ideas during a meeting. He then said he felt stuck only being able to design and create within current strict guidelines established from 2003. No innovation here.
Furthermore, there is another virus of a developer who has been there for 10+ years. She will get on your good side only to gossip the crap out of anything and everything behind your back to anyone willing to listen. Beware.
If you want some work experience with okay pay and lower than okay benefits (crappy health benefits)-- go for it. Just don't expect a solid and happy career here without sippin' on kool-aid from the 80's.
