Detica Reviews

Pros

- On the whole, Detica employs only really good people. There are a few who stand out as not brilliant but this is mainly because they are in the wrong role rather than bad people, and I've seen this sort itself out over time.
- Varied, interesting and challenging work.
- Lots of change, with opportunity to try new things. I understand the strategy and although not all of it applies to my field, I'm happy with it and think its pretty good.
- Detica is my 5th employer, and the best by a long way. Some people get upset by niggles, but the fundamentals seem pretty strong to me.
- Detica has always paid salary increases and bonuses (at some level) and I've never been able to say that before.
- I have been seriously impressed with the way Detica has supported several of my friends and colleagues through personal/family issues. When it really mattered, I've seen this Company do the right thing.

Cons

- Although the Company strategy is fairly straight forward, I see this doesn't always get translated into day to day operations.
- There is a lot of whinging from colleagues who havent worked elsewhere and don't realise how much better Detica is than most employers. Sometimes I wish there was a harder line taken on energy-suckers.
- Review process and performance feedback can be variable dependant on the line manager. No worse than any other professional services firm though.

Advice to Senior Management

Basically a good Company, slightly let down by a few of the basics which havent stood the test of time and growth - ensure that they get addressed before too long.

Pros

Lots of different challenges and a good work/life balance

Cons

Not as high a starting salary as others

Pros

Interesting, varied, and highly challenging technical task. I'm expected to be able to turn my hand to any type of technical problem - which I enjoy.

Cons

* There is little opportunity to be really creative.
* Managers seem quite uninterested in people who want to take time to produce high quality software.
* Refactoring is a bad word.
* Most of my colleagues are electronic engineers, put on software tasks. They have little experience, and are under too much pressure to learn about how to do software tasks right.
* Review system is corporate BS.

Advice to Senior Management

Rather than treating your people as "resource", you need to take a much more personal approach to leadership. Find out how your employees are doing - what their passion is, their strengths and weaknesses, their frustrations. Then try to nurture the good things, while cooperatively working through the weaknesses.

Pros

Great people, good projects, and a good spread of business across a range of sectors.
Although most people work hard, management are generally supportive of family commitments.

Cons

There are a lot of niggling frustrations (out-of-date IT, poor networks, lack of integration of acquired companies), as well poor training in some business areas, and lack of strategic focus in others.
Overall, it just doesn't have buzz, or sense of excitement it should.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in infrastructure and environments, and bring some focus on making work easier and fun, as well as investing in training.

Pros

Many truly excellent people, particularly at junior and middle levels. Good salaries, competitive with the best. Some extremely innovative product ideas which deserve better exploitation. Some extremely long and successful client relationships (> 30 years is common). A number of charismatic and successful mid-senior managers who could go far (given the freedom and opportunity).

Cons

Large sectors of consultancy market have collapsed with current UK economic turmoil. Detica has adapted to this new reality slowly, painfully and with great difficulty. There is no new strategy to replace that which has gone - 'work harder' seems to be the only management mantra, along with never-ending re-organisations. Insane workload and pressure on staff. Long hours, burn-out common. Redundancy programmes occur yearly, at Xmas (lovely timing). 'Misfits' can disappear at any time. BAe has largely ignored company since purchase (makes you wonder why they bothered), but has now started mindlessly imposing ever more excruciatingly painful business planning, budgeting and other business processes (Detica doesn't make battleships with very long purchase cycles).

Advice to Senior Management

Get some decent clear-thinking strategic leadership. Devise a strategy for successful operation in the new market reality, and accept that the old 'pure consultancy' approach is dead.

Clearly articulate the strategy for the workforce - the troops will follow if they are just given a message that means something and doesn't change every five minutes.

Push back on BAe bureaucracy - if left unchecked this will destroy the company. Processes appropriate for managing large complex defence programmes and huge workforces are NOT necessarily appropriate in a small, agile, technically sophisticated and highly mobile operation.

Pros

Some very talented individuals particularly at lower levels. Facilities in the offices aren't bad. Good work life balance -generally better hours than some rival consultancies.

Cons

For a firm that bangs on about how it hires the cleverest people, very little support is given to anyone who wants to pursue a technical career. It's very hard to progress past a junior level unless you're a sales person or look after a spreadsheet. Reviews are very much about who you know not what you've done with a lot of mysterious changing of review scores in closed door moderation meetings based on which way the wind is blowing that day.

Bae's involvement in the company has been slow, but it's very clear that they are clamping down on wages and benefits. This strategy is hinted at to staff with a lot of fanfare about the opening of a low cost delivery centre, but it's never really explained and contradictory messages are often given. Either they want to be a top consultancy or they don't - it's not very clear where they are going. It's also not obvious how well we're doing (our profit is now hidden inside Bae's) - they've done a few rounds of redundancies, many people anticipate more.

Advice to Senior Management

Sorry but there are a lot of senior people who don't pull their weight. Promote some of the talented technical people in the company and make sure there are career paths and aspirations for us technical guys. We're the ones that do the real work and bring the money in.

Pros

People, travel, pay, career oportunities, interesting work that often makes a difference

Cons

Workload Workload Workload Workload Workload

Advice to Senior Management

Don't take on work you can't sufficiently resource.

Pros

Free kit kats
Some very good and inspiring people

Cons

- as others have stated, a clique at the senior levels about as far away from a meritocracy as you could imagine
- poor morale
- 6 monthly waves of redundancies of late, people made redundant when equivalent roles were still being advertised on the web site (and actively interviewed for) - clue: this is contrary to British employment law.

Advice to Senior Management

Overhaul at the senior levels to create a more meritocratic environment, better respect for employees.

Pros

Benefits and pay are very good.

Cons

Technical leadership is poor. Lack of real technical mentoring and opportunities to upskill. Management seems intent on creating new programmes every year that never amount to anything. Performance reviews are a joke. Came to Detica since I believed the hype that they were the smart ones, but could see no evidence. No different from the other consultancy firms.

Pros

Clever people, smart technology
Paretn company BAES has a lot of weight in markets

Cons

As a lateral recruit, you can get frozen out of 'the Clique'. It is a crony network with lots of senior positions going to people on the basis of 'who you know'.

They hire and fire, often on promises of strategy that never materialises as strategy changes every five minutes depending on the weather.

Their track record on retaining talent lateral hires is very bad. Most laterals I know have left after getting bored and not being able to break into the 'Clique'.

Advice to Senior Management

Clarity in strategy and communication would help.

Leadership and openness to new ideas would be good.

Breaking up the clique to start understanding the outside world would be nice.

And please dont lie to people during itnereviews about your big plans - Laterals leave good careers and find that they got the short end of the stick.