CGI Group Reviews in Edmonton, AB Area

Pros

Lots of great people, help, inteliigent

Cons

salary could be higher and better salary increases

Pros

Benefits, and it's one of the few non-contract jobs you can get in Edmonton

Cons

The "everyone has to do everything; we're like a small family-owned company" mentality. If I'm hired as a writer, I don't want to be coding or doing quality checks, I want to write. It's what I'm good at, and I enjoy it.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't advertise a job as one thing, then do bait & switch. If your staff on a project is all quitting because of one person, GET RID OF THE PROBLEM PERSON before all your staff jumps ship.

Pros

Wide varieties of projects to work on. The company might offer some basic training to junior developers or analysts.

Cons

Don't expect to learn much from coworkers, company and the management pay more attention to profit than the career growth or life/work balance of its "members".

Advice to Senior Management

Pay true attention to what company claims to value-its "members" and quality of work.

Pros

Tuition reimbursement.
Monthly expense account.
Benefits are decent.

Cons

Limited opportunities.
Limited clients in area = limited project work.
Pay.
Very difficult to move between AMS and ADS.
Would rather hire staff who is already at an intermediate or senior level then develop their more junior talent.

Advice to Senior Management

Train younger employees to fill the roles of more experienced ones, not just pigeon hole them into certain roles and hire others instead.

Pros

I enjoyed the social committee and activities available to interact with peers. Softball, skiing, various sporting and community activities were offered

Cons

Limited number of clients. Moderate footprint in the Edmonton and Calgary area. Second Tier service and personnel but a good place to cut your teeth.

Advice to Senior Management

Displeased with management and how it handled various issues leading to my departure.

Pros

your are given access to a huge repository of informatoin be it from co-workers or physical material. Also when the going gets tough CGI tends to throw some of the better resources at the problems to help out.

Cons

The pay is OK but not terrific. Managment states that they want opinions of the employees but the suggestion boxes go un-checked and there is no willingness to spend anything towards improving productivity or employee satisfaction.

Advice to Senior Management

To start to listen to suggestions on how to improve performance. Put a dollar figure towards it instead of just saying that it is important at meeting times.

The current incentive program where by you win a chance to win an IPod is almost insulting to the people who expend there own personal time and effort to build CGI as a company.

Initiating a 360 degree feedback process where by members can critique their managers would be helpful in some instances.

Pros

By their nature, large software consulting companies are difficult to assign a 'personality'. Since they don't have product lines, these companies tend to market themselves via their consulting methodology. IBM, for example, likes to sell itself as a cheap, global consulting company. Thoughtworks, as the small but cutting-edge boutique alternative. CGI's identity is based on process. Since they can't be the cheapest, they attempt to be the 'best run'. There is a focus on performance rather than minimizing cost, which engenders a more professional atmosphere than at some other companies. In general, CGI respects its employees work-life balance and provides competitive salaries and benefits.

Cons

The flip side is that the focus on process is often only skin-deep. When talking to clients, CGI likes to tout its ISO-certified project management and HR processes, but in practice only the higher levels of management concern themselves with process. The project teams manage themselves no differently than any other company. In addition, like any consulting company, your experience as an employee can vary a lot depending on what projects you are working on. Most of my time at CGI was spent on the client's site, and CGI made little effort to engage me beyond sporadic performance reviews. It would be easy to become lost in a company like CGI.

Advice to Senior Management

CGI is a professional environment, but passionless. It often feels like there is little pulling the company together except a common working space. To a degree, this is the nature of consulting, but the company could put more effort into building a shared company culture.

Pros

Good company, room to advance and learn depending on your department and management

Cons

not flexible for work life balance. (Working form home option not highly recommended)

Advice to Senior Management

more communication and involvement