BBC Reviews

Pros

Good training, interesting work and very relaxed culture means than you have a chance to learn great things and freedom to flourish

Cons

Large corporate structure can be unwieldy at times making the job more difficult. For example it took us 3 months just to get a whiteboard

Advice to Senior Management

Remove red tape around purchasing essential tools for people's jobs so that it doesn't cost lots of money to pay people to jump through hoops.

Pros

The brand, the output, flexible working, talented and committed individuals.

Cons

Political, frustrating, slow, siloed, bitchy.

Advice to Senior Management

Simplify structures, follow through on what you say, don't just promote/ recruit in your image.

Pros

A great deal of professional respect comes from having been associated with the BBC - in other words, it looks good on your CV.

The BBC do large scale web-technology well and you can learn a lot about how this has been achieved if you get into the right team and are around the right managers.

The BBC still build most of their audience facing web technology themeselves; only a small number of development projects are outsourced.

Cons

The culture is part university and part civil service. There is very little fear of failure because there is usually no consequence of failure. If you are coming from the private sector and are used to working with commercial goals in mind, then you might not want to stay too long for fear of losing your edge; apathy can be infectious.

There is little empowerment at the BBC and as a consequence, decisions are hard to come by and get reversed and switched all the time. Project goals change on a daily basis as one manager's will view is suddenly overruled by another's! You get used to it, but in your heart you know it's pretty dysfunctional.

There is an unmistakable whiff of entitlement pervading the place too - with very little evidence of any of it having been earned.

Advice to Senior Management

To try and change the BBC's culture would be akin to rewriting the Bible - in other words, there would be an outcry! The BBC is the way it is because a lot of people like it the way it is. It's an easy place for a lot of people, but the pay for permanent staff is proportional - i.e. not great.

Management needs to fix the dead-wood-in-the-workforce problem. This is largely a consequence of hiring experts at every turn and not nurturing the skills of permanent staff...and you don't have to hire more experts to do this!

Pros

The BBC is a great place to work if you want to learn new technologies, have job security and are comfortable with bureaucracy. There was a wonderful internal focus on making sure that the British public were well served. Many colleagues are exceptional at what they do and the BBC worked hard to support the personal and professional development of their staff.

Cons

Even if you don't join the union, your pay rises are already determined by them. Short of accepting a promotion, your salary is what the union negotiated. This means that there were fantastic employees who were getting the same percentage salary increases as awful employees. And because of the union, awful employees would often be transferred from department to department rather than let go. I finally left after several years of pay rises less than inflation. My job reviews were always fantastic, but I didn't pursue promotions because I didn't want to get into management in their bureaucracy. As a result, while they said they were very happy with me, my salary stagnated. As for the union employees, some of them seemed more concerned with having a job than doing one.

While I had a decent salary, most regular employees are paid below market rates. This is largely due to political pressure and the BBC is having trouble attracting and retaining top talent as a result.

Pros

Welcoming team, great rep/brand name, exciting working environment

Cons

limited scope for career progression, extremely hard to get foot in door as a paid runner/junior role

Advice to Senior Management

More work experience and junior jobs needed (even if for low pay - better than none)

Pros

The professional experience is one you hardly encounter anywhere in my country, there is this co-operation between the staff and management that make is easy to work and achieve set goals.

Cons

I think the management should take their giant steps to increase the salaries

Advice to Senior Management

Keep it up

Pros

Great people. a great place to learn. Loads of time to do research. BBC cares about the user it is not driven by money

Cons

too much paper work to get things done. Projects tend to get lost or neglected sometimes. Loads of slackers don't get fired because of the paperwork and hastle involved in doing so

Pros

BBC is a leader in technology and content development, you get the chance to work on projects that have an impact on a great many people.

Cons

Outside influence/meddling by the Government and others, management can become dogmatic and continue with a policy beyond its usefulness. Politics exists throughout the organisation you have to learn to deal with it.

Pros

* Good reputation, looks great on the CV
* Interesting and high profile projects
* Training in Agile development process, TDD, and other transferable skills
* Given enough time to achieve quality in development code
* Relaxed work environment, low stress

Cons

* Sometimes you can feel insignificent because it is such a large organisation
* Can be isolating socially if you don't click with your immediate collegues right away

Advice to Senior Management

* Encourage team building in the engineering department with regular social events

Pros

Lots of opportunities to move from one career path to another. Very flexible in regards to working patterns, giving most people a better work, home balance.

Cons

Can sometimes be expected to do more than your fair share of work, at times it can feel like you are doing a job that 2 people should do, however this is normally recognised and rewarded.