Pros
BENEFITS. I doubt you can find anything better anywhere else. Full healthcare, good 401k deal, generous PTO policy, bagels on Friday, etc. The office space is awesome. There was a time when employee satisfaction might have been overlooked. Not anymore. Management took steps to improve it, and it shows. There are fun company-wide events at least quarterly that are a good way to meet and interact with your co-workers.
COMPENSATION. Also, I doubt you can find anything better anywhere else. For entry-level hires, HR finds what comp is for top-notch mgmt consulting firms (Bain, McKinsey, etc) and matches or exceeds what is offered there. For senior hires, comp was typically above market.
COMPANY MARKET POSITION. PowerPlan is the best company in the world at what it sets out to do (asset-centric accounting software for asset-centric companies). Sure, it might be a niche market, have aging software, etc (that’s for the con section below). BUT PowerPlan is still the best company in the world at the market it serves. I found that to be really cool and satisfying during my time at PowerPlan. Also, this means that, at the very least, PowerPlan is not going anywhere. During my time at PowerPlan, there were initiatives that failed miserably, higher-ups that disagreed, but I viewed PowerPlan’s stability through these mishaps as a positive… PowerPlan has good leeway to screw some things up, fix them, and still be just fine. That has a lot to do with its market position.
INTELLIGENT, DRIVEN PEOPLE. Employees in software-heavy departments (R&D, Prof Services, and Support) have strong technical aptitude. Employees in client-facing departments (Prof Services, Sales, Pre-sales) have strong people skills. The common theme is that people at PowerPlan are high performers. There’s always someone smarter than you at PowerPlan, and not only is that motivating, but it also means that there are people who have answers to your questions.
OTHER PROS: Upward mobility. Opportunity to learn about a variety of industries at once. Collaborative. Flexibility for weekend travel in PS. Management is open to feedback, good and bad.
Cons
PUPPET STRINGS. PowerPlan is owned by private equity, and PE companies invest money to make more money. This can make PowerPlan feel cash-cowish. Non-revenue generating areas of the company are skimped, and revenue-generating areas of the business are fattened. For example, Prof services can do development work, and R&D can lack the manpower that they need to reach their goals. I sometimes felt like upper management had limited autonomy and simply took orders from the PE board. This seemed to make PowerPlan tense-up and move away from the “loose-ness” typically seen in tech companies.
TRAINING. The new hire training has gotten much better since I came on board, but there still is room to improve in continuous training. The industry that PowerPlan serves is VERY complex, with no 2 companies being exactly alike. This makes top-notch training even more important. But, see “Puppet Strings” above.
SOFTWARE STABILITY. PowerPlan is on a software platform called Powerbuilder that is out-dated. PowerPlan recognizes this, but it would be a massive undertaking for the company to switch onto a more modern software platform. The software prevents PowerPlan from being a saas web-based platform, limiting its stability and valuation.
OTHER CONS: Green, young management. Long hours in Prof Services and Development. Lots of travel. Recent turnover. Lack of attention to customer satisfaction.
