Great people hindered by process and weak leadership
Pros
The company has a knack for hiring the best professionals in the area. Most are highly skilled and have a strong work ethic. You'll love working with your peers and some will become lifelong friends. The company uses the latest technology and has a strong hold in a market niche. You'll have opportunity for domestic and international travel and decent career growth potential in a growing company.
Cons
Senior management seems to view employees as cogs in a machine. The main objective seems to be growth and more revenue at all costs, as if the company is being groomed for sale. Senior management doesn't respect or understand software development. Development teams follow the Team Software Process (TSP) which is a software development process originally written for the US Department of Defense. Odds are you haven't heard of it, and there's a reason for that. This makes sense for mission critical systems where failure could mean lives lost - like in jets, submarines, tanks, nuclear missiles, the space shuttle, medical equipment, ect... but most of the company's applications are read-only business reporting systems that are updated only monthly. A proven agile process like Scrum would be a much better fit for the organization and way more cost effective. Expect to spend time in endless meetings discussing process, refining process, measuring process, making process for the process itself, ... process, process, process. This is understandable if a bug could kill someone, but overkill for a read-only business reporting system. In general, the company pays slightly above average, but consider this: I left for a job making quite a bit more, working less hours, and with far less stress. A lot of longer-term employees have left the company recently so most employees are either new or have been there for 10+ years. Not so many people fall in between. You'll work beyond 40 hours per week as a rule and way more on poorly managed projects. The office environment is quite stuffy and it's not a good idea to question authority.
