1. Office politics are KING. You could do a perfect job as BOA, or analyst, or what have you, but you will never be as highly regarded as the peer (who could be awful at their actual job) who has networked/built relationships the best.
2. The salaries are below market average for the DC area. As a grunt, you will make about $37k. As a first level manager (MOS, one step up from being a grunt), you will make about $40k. A second level manager, SMOS, makes about $45k. An RC makes about $50-55k plus stock options.
3. It is a very stressful place to work if you're an introvert. You will constantly be told that you need to go out to lunch more, "take down your walls," and go chat with people in the middle of the day. There are a lot of unspoken social rules, so if you are someone who prefers a task/goal focused job, this will not be a good fit.
4. Benefits are awful and you only get 2 weeks vacation for the first 5 years you're there.
5. At the end of the day, the devotion to the Core Values is cult-like and upper management is an old boy's club. You are completely dispensable if someone important enough doesn't like you.
6. Promotions are very hard won. I think they expect so much from their employees in terms of working unpaid over time, kissing butt, and having "carefrontation" with everyone that it's rare an actual human being could impress them. They hire managers from the outside so often because it's easier to be hopeful and gamble on someone you don't know. For in house people chosen for promotion, they go through a vetting process that lasts 6-12 months wherein the person is expected to prove their worth by doing their job plus the job of a manager without a pay increase or title change.
