Booz Allen Hamilton Reviews in Baltimore, MD Area

Pros

Booz Allen is a great place to work if you are interested in being a management consultant at some level. While the firm continues to build its credentials as a technology consulting house, it holds true to its 90+ years of management consulting heritage. This is reflected in how the firm evaluates employees using the same set of competencies for each respective level and across service offerings/capabilities. There is great emphasis on staff owning their careers and an equally great emphasis on collaboration across, up and down within the organization. Given the firm's growth in the past several years, there are opportunities abound. That said, nothing is a given and you must work for what you want.

Cons

Booz Allen has experienced significant growth and is now learning how to be a big company. That is moving the culture around a bit. Some people may not be comfortable with that amount of change. The up or out dimension to the career model is long gone at the staff levels, which can create some dead weight at times. Staff working away from the office can have a hard time staying connected.

Pros

Flex time - employees above the entry level (consultant) have an entire month to meet their hours.

Cons

Salary - employees hired under the old Booz Allen are compensated good. new employees are getting low balled.
401k - you may get a 10% match but the vesting period is 5 years. many of our new hires don't last 1 year.
Training - you get 40 hours a year but you are required/expected to make up the time to remain in the good graces of leadership.
Talent - one of our top performers is leaving every few weeks. only the slackers and unmotivated remain.
Career Mobility - staff are promised positions or work that we don't have then put into mind numbing roles. when they try to switch projects, they are stalled.
Assessments - the assessment process is very time consuming. since a lot of our high performers are leaving, unqualified staff are being promoted in their place... or worse yet, the highly qualified are forced to work with the less qualified and unmotivated.
Career Growth - not a lot of growth unless you're willing to stick to one project and ride it out through thick and thin.

Advice to Senior Management

We want the old Booz Allen back. I know you can't give it to us since you've lost control of the company... so we'll seek happiness elsewhere.

Pros

Working with bright people and a short commute.

Cons

Everything is revenue drive, not quality of the deliverable driven.

Pros

They pay decently. My office was nice, they have free coffee. Most weeks, I can usually get a free lunch from the leftovers from meetings.

Cons

Management in all of the Information Security/Assurance areas with whom I've interacted and worked seemingly have no IT backgrounds. They have learned how to talk the talk, but can't walk the walk.

They recently fired on average just over 20% of their senior leadership. They also made a campaign on the radio and in recruiting to hire 1500 new Cyber people for Summer 2011. Most of them have now probably been "let go." An article came out at the end of 2011 or early 2012 that stated that Booz is not financially solvent. Management then held conference calls where they "told" us that they're "righting the ship." It was ironic as the Italian ship had just crashed at the time. It seemed to fit perfectly, as this is what's happening.

Half of one Cyber team has quit and left for greener pastures.

After accepting this job and resigning from my previous job, I couldn't find anyone who had anything good to say about Booz. One friend put it best: "Booz is where dreams go to die."

There are so many other contractors out there, and they all seem better at this point. When you consider that SAIC has been around about 1/3 as long, and has twice the number of employees and revenue, it seems that Booz is doing something wrong, and companies like SAIC are doing it correctly.

Pros

Reputable company to work for
Training Opportunities are abundant and frequent
Many Clients to work for

Cons

Over the past 3 years I have been with BAH the company has changed. First, since September 2011 people have been receiving "Lack of Work letters" and given 10 days to find another job inside of BAH or they are told to hit the street. Second, if it is taking more than usual to get someone cleared, they are told they don't meet BAH requirements and let go. (you have 2 tries on the POLYGRAPH, although the GOVT gives you four). Third, we are now told they want to make the company more competitive by firing Partners, Principals, and Senior Associates. My fear is that next quater they will go after Associates and Senior Consultants (the worker Bees). My prediction is that they will get rid of the beach and ... people will not be able to charge to General Admin (G). BAH want you to attend team meetings, trainings, and complete BAH requirements, but they don't want you to bill to "G" BAH is becoming like CSC, CACI, and Deloitte. I would be suprised if BAH is making themselves attractive so that they can be sold to another company like....... IBM...

Advice to Senior Management

TELL THE TRUTH.

Pros

The employees at Booz Allen are of high caliber and can teach you a lot.
The total benefits package is one of the best I have ever seen.
Very clear advancement path and expectations.
Very flexible in terms of work life balance and time scheduling.

Cons

The companies public offering is changing the way the company works, some of the fringe benefits are slowly being taken away. The majority of the technical work is located in the Washington, DC Metro area, so if you want to succeed in this firm, that's the best place to do it.

Pros

Lots of opportunity to make a real difference in a challenging work environment with interesting clients. You are the only limiting factor in your career growth and job satisfaction... A place where you can do whatever you want to do if you can get buy in and find a client that needs it...

Cons

Very conservative company, not for everyone. Must really prove that something works before leadership will back you. You better love it as you move higher and higher in the company - since the demands on your time frequently exceed normal working hours.

Pros

The benefits are great. as well as the yearly contrbituion to the retirement plan. If you happen to be on the right team, you will be able to seek out challenging opportunities and rewarded for your hard work.

Cons

The type of work experience at Booz totally depends on the team you work on. Some teams are like being in a toxic sealed, air tight room. You will be destroyed. There are great ideas, but many times, the great ideas are implemented wrong or not at all. The assessment process is really a joke which is unfair and underhanded.

Pros

- Flexibility to flex hours throughout a month (Senior Consultants and above)
- Ability to switch projects if the other PM wants you (no joke)
- Some tuition reimbursement ($5k /year)
- Good reputation
- Awesome colleagues
- Opportunity to get a clearance and work on cool projects
- 40 hours of training per year
- Great 401k contribution if one stays for 6 years or more

Cons

- Relatively flat org
- Not too many management positions (many task management opportunities though)
- Constant re-org's
- Hoteling
- 6 years to be fully vested

Advice to Senior Management

- Please communicate more through e-mail, all-hands meetings, or something else!
- More than $5k / year for tuition reimbursement is needed
- Do not grow this company too fast!

Pros

Direct management were hands on and engaging, but not micromanagers.
Work/Life balance was superb and time was flexible.
The company attracts a lot of talent in my field and it was great experience working hand in hand together.

Cons

I didn't really have any downsides. I guess I could have asked for more money upfront but I was happy with my intial offer. The occassional bad manager would pop up now and then, but once the Senior Associates/Principal knew, things would get fixed.

Advice to Senior Management

Believe your people when they identify a problem and listen. Empowerment really does breed great results. The 360 review is a good thing.