Good Pros, Some Cons, Good Take-A-Ways
Pros
- It's a software company, SaaS really; Not some in-house, internal development for a company that makes it's money in a manner unrelated to your work. (the biggest pro for our profession) - A good sense of purpose; there is a lot of room for improvement on some really great systems. - the opportunity to do meaningful work for some great, notable clients, throughout many industries. - The CEO and Founders are inspiring and charismatic. - I got the sense this company could achieve national prestige, so notoriety in that event. - Decent Benefits - Decent Salary (not competitive though; they were the lowest offer I received) - Good Work Balance Life (unless you're tardy, it's a pressing issue that validates people existence these days.. you'll have to see Cons on that note.)
Cons
With some exceptions, Netchex suffers from upper-mid to mid-level management growth issues. Seemingly, this is company-wide, though some departments seemed to have been adapting well. The department I was in hasn't - yet. The current problem, as I had come to see it, stems from having a mixture of both promoted and direct hired leadership at the department level. To even reach this point, it was something that played out over the past couple years (i.e. growth issues), but I don't want to get into the details. At this time, there is really more of a reformist agenda going on throughout that department (perhaps all departments) that is fairly ridge and yet still vague. Until that's cleared up (which I presume will be another year) I wouldn't recommend taking on this company with any other mentality then to use them as a stepping stone in your career. I'll add that in my individual experience, after that first year, I felt under-utilized and greatly inhibited. I had gained infrequent, little sense of achievement; and at points, I had lost total confidence in the department, and the products we've built, maintained and planned to build. I had lost confidence with the company on occasion, and I had even lost confidence in myself and my choices. This isn't necessarily something that will translate over to your experience should you go with Netchex, but I don't think was a unique experience. You'll do fine if you don't really hold high value and expectation on those things, which goes back to my recommendation on your mentality going in. There's a lot more to be said, but I have to keep some material for my book. I'm joking... but maybe.
