Pros
* Remote work is typical/normalized * Choice of company-issued PC or Mac * Tooling is largely up to personal preferences * They will probably still be in business for the foreseeable future due to sheer mass & momentum * Work with people around the world
Cons
You will drown in a sea of redundant systems & processes which are inconsistently implemented/enforced: * 4 distinct communication solutions at one point, some official, others less so * 5 systems/channels for every routine task/project “management”/time-tracking, including email, email with tables, emailed Excel spreadsheets, shared Excel spreadsheets (on a SharePoint system that is inaccessible remotely while connected to their own developer VPN/proxy config), a ticket system not designed/configured for software development, poorly-managed time tracking solution that occasionally doesn’t have your project codes (also inaccessible remotely while connected to VPN/proxy necessary for conducting development tasks, but even as a full-time salaried employee you will be expected to log 8 hours of something every day regardless; you know how on Lost they had to enter numbers on a computer for no apparent reason or bad things would happen? Same thing.) Testing/QA/UAT is probably the sales & support people. But that weekly release still better be immaculate or there’ll be hell to pay if an “emergency” release is necessary. The signal-to-noise level is incredibly bad: * meetings and events could easily absorb a significant portion of your week if you let them Offshore contractors who can vary wildly in technical proficiency, English fluency, and internet connection quality, and who can appear on your team with little to no warning then disappear just as suddenly with their tasks/code left incomplete and no replacement resource in sight. You will be directly and actively made to feel guilty about them having meetings late at into their night even though the company headquartered in Texas is the one who hired them and put you on a team with them with no resources to accomplish asynchronous collaboration. Base pay is mediocre. Benefits are just adequate though expensive for such a large employer. Churn (departures/shuffling) at the higher levels is nearly constant, resulting in a lack of consistent, coherent vision being maintained, leading to sense of instability, discontinuity, and a compensatory discontent among the rank & file. If you have any shred of self-worth, you will become demoralized and possibly even be railroaded out. I watched it happen then experienced it firsthand. The Sabre “values” drum is beat hard and often, but the only thing that is demonstrably valued is unquestioning compliance.
