Information Concepts Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Information Concepts full-time for more than a year

Pros – Well, I've been here for just over a year now, so I figure I might as well write a review. I've had my fair share of different jobs before this one, but this one is the best I've ever had. I really like it here.
My Pros:
--I've learned A LOT!! I can't even begin to imagine how good for my career this job is. I look at this place as like "IT Bootcamp" - I've enjoyed the responsibility of using so many different technologies, and accomplished many different things, and in a short amount of time.
--Casual and relaxed atmosphere; can dress casual, chat/joke around with co-workers (to a degree; we all know better than to slack--we're a small team so we know to "get 'er done").. Oh and depending on your job role and/or workload, you can sometimes work from home.
--Everyone here is very smart, and very nice. I find I get along great with everyone, and have made several friends here.
--There's free food, soft drinks, and coffee!
--The boss has saved my life not once, but twice. lol. First, when I had no job, he hired me. And second, when my living situation turned bad, I got a raise when I asked for it, which let me move when I needed to. The boss is a genius, no-nonsense, economical business owner, and he's had the patience to teach me things that I did not know. I've also asked for certain books, for certs or job requirements, and they were ordered for me.
--There can be a lot of work at times, but then other times the workload is light. I don't mind the variability, and I'm glad that, at least some times, there is free time to study at work. Doesn't get much better than that.

Cons – Can't believe the negative reviews on this site. To those afraid of spying, lol, no one spies on your computer. There's bigger fish to fry, believe me. And sure I've been paranoid about it too, but I've used tools to see what's going on, and well, there's nothing. There are helpdesk reports for if your hard drive runs low on space, or if you delete something from the files server, I can find out who it was from AD auditing. But that's about it.

If you feel under-compensated, then bring it up with them. Negotiate. And get your certs. They want you to get certs, they go out of their way to help you achieve that, so do that first and then you have better marketability. Simple.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep on keepin' on.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Information Concepts full-time for more than a year

Pros – If you have limited experience, this is a good place to go in order to get more experience.
they're also flexible about when you come in and when you leave, depending on how productive you are. the kitchen is stocked with food and drinks. most people there, generally, are nice, at least on the surface ;P

healthcare is good/OK, and you get a 401k. the vision plan sucks, though, which is unusual for a company that relies on people being able to study LCD screens all day

Cons – there's little job security. you can be fired or laid off at the drop of a hat. for a small business with 30 to 50 people, i've seen maybe 10+ people fired in just one year, and even more that have left. some of those that were fired, you'd be glad. they deserved it. others, it came as a shock.

management spies on you. if you access a personal email account while at work, they've got your password, and they'll monitor your personal email. why? so if you get another job offer, they prepare for it, and try to manipulate you. you'll be promised things that will not come to fruition, just to keep you to stay for a little while longer.

management can be overly mean, aggressive, shouting, usually over things that you wouldn't expect would rouse anger. maybe it's done to instill fear? a fearful worker will work harder..

they will work you hard until you burn out. they will get you to do a lot of overtime, and then not compensate you for it.

practices are ad-hoc and hit or miss. there's not enough investment towards things that matter, such as equipment that can properly handle all of the virtual servers.

when you work here, it's easy to be screwed over, and to have people gossip behind your back. be careful. work just long enough, and find something better.

Advice to Senior Management – it's hard to run a business, but there is such a thing as karma. be more ethical, and then good things will come.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Information Concepts full-time for less than a year

Pros – - The company has been around for 30 years.
- Overall reputation with their clients is excellent.
- The owners are very flexible, and treat the employees with tremendous freedom and respect so long as you are productive, reliable and communicate well with your team, management and the customers.
- Customer focused

Cons – - Relaxed atmosphere could be a negative if you lack initiative, and the ability to demonstrate and document your activity.
- Quality of work environment could suffer if the team manager isn't up to the task. But, I think they've cleaned out the riff raff.

Advice to Senior Management – - Communicate more, and more often.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Information Concepts full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – I enjoy having direct Contact with compay's two Principals.

The flexible, casual work environment make working here ideal.

I also like the small company environment where you get to know everyone. In my role, knowing everyone makes getting my job done easier.

Like several of my Information Concepts colleagues, I left the company when I moved out of the area and happily rejoined Info when I moved back to the DC area.

Cons – None for me. Although Consulting and small company environments are not for everyone. Our environment is not as structured as some, so a proactive, entrepreneurial spirit is a must here.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Information Concepts full-time

Pros – Developers get to code, not manage projects or collect requirements
Business analysts / project managers get to think creatively about how to solve customers' business problems.
Project teams value and incorporate input from all team members to produce the best solution for the customer.
Casual work environment, flexible work schedules, telecommuting.

Cons – Expectations can be high for speed and accuracy of work.
Busy teams and flat organizational structure sometimes means people don't realize where to look to for guidance/approval.

Advice to Senior Management – Create a mobile-focused practice to get a bigger foothold in that space.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Information Concepts

Pros – Laid back place most of the time. Good experience if you are just starting out, you will do a lot of things and get experience in many different areas that becomes very valuable if you move on. Casual dress, opportunities to work from home.

Cons – Egos abound. Nothing is ever the owners' fault and they like their sacrificial sheep. . Projects drone on and on and you will start with a team of 10 then have a team of 3 and be expected to have the same results if not better. You have to fight for resources and they won't even pay mileage if you have to go to a client site. Low pay for the most part, I got a 11k pay raise elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop pinching so many pennies. Your turnover rate is atrocious, that's not due to a boatload of bad employees but a boatload of bad management and everyone being overworked. Give recognition for a job well done.

Former Employee – worked at Information Concepts

Pros – Once a month developers meet to talk about tech stuff, with a presentation or two, but these are generally not useful.

I was able to work from home 3 days a week, and change days freely as needed.

The developers are mostly nice people, but the senior developers are not (see below)

Once a month they feed you lunch, which is so-so and which you often eat in the parking lot (yes you read that right).

Cons – I was so underpaid that my next job was $20k higher.

They failed to pick up my security clearance through incompentance and I lost it as a result.

Developers are, amazingly, not allowed to see the requirements, which are filtered through PMs first. This causes endless problems with the software being written (and rewritten again, and again, and...)

The PMs are, generally, incompetant, lazy, demanding, and full of themselves. They know they are more important than the developers despite this being a software development company. They poorly interpret requirements and write sloppy specs; they don't even bother to check the table designs to see if they are telling you the right tables and fields to pull from, for example. They don't readily clarify their mistakes (or admit them), which they often repeat. Despite their lousy work slowing you down, they expect you to work fast and don't accept the idea that they are the speed bump. Most have less than 2 years experience and know little to nothing about software development, and yet you answer to them and have to follow their directions despite having way more experience. This means you're the senior person but are treated like you're junior. And you have to do things that are bad practice, because correcting them gets you disliked - and that has consequences (see below).

There is no job growth or potential there, as there are four "senior developers" who've worked there for years and determine coding policies, etc., and they aren't looking for more of them.

Three of the four senior developers will never say a word to you if they have a problem with your code, even when you repeatedly ask for feedback or for them to review it. They'll say something to management though, and you will be shocked that it's been going on behind your back. You'll find you've been under "probation" for months and had no idea, and yet when you ask what's the matter with your code you will get no answer, eroding your trust. This happened to more than just me - and I saw the other's code and there was nothing wrong with it.

They repeatedly try to make people who don't want to work offsite or in specific locations (like really far away) do so, even when other employees are willing to take that spot. They don't care about your preferences and are not flexible. "Sometimes you do what has to be done" they say. Yeah, like finding another job.

Project Managers talk so much dirt about developers (and vice versa) that other PMs don't want to work with someone and people can lose their job over it, even if there's a just minor personality clash. Management allows this and does not step in to investigate, preferring to teminate someone.

There is no long term or short term disability or life insurance.

You are not rewarded for doing a good job or going above and beyond what is reasonably expected. In fact, no comment will be made at all.

Regarding termination: they make this decision and "let on" to people about it for up to a month before the axe falls. You know, stuff like not looking you in the eye anymore, not giving you a Christmas bonus everyone else got, that sort of thing. Or terminating all your access to the network before telling you you're fired, which happened to someone else there.

They are cheap, as the only bonus you'll ever see is a measely $500 gift card, if that. These are not based on merit either, but social standing.

Advice to Senior Management – You are not kings and your employees are not tools to be used in any way you see fit. They have careers and skills they want to use and job locations they are willing to work. They are people, not things.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Information Concepts full-time

Pros – The guys that run this company are a couple of Programmers who understand what it takes to get a system built and into production. They have been doing this since 1982.

I have been at Information Concepts for many years. Although I have had opportunities to go to other firms, I am very comfortable here. My job is secure and I am given opportunities to explore different development environments and types of projects.

Cons – As a small 50 person company your contributions are clearly visible. So if you are going to slack off on a project, it really effects the whole team.

Advice to Senior Management – The communications to the staff are very helpful. The new shout outs (and bonuses) about staff members for customers who say nice things about them is great.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Information Concepts part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -Info Concepts gives employees flexible daily schedules.
-They offer us telecommuting options.
-It's a laid-back, relaxed environment in the office; there is no dress code.
-Good communication from Management.

It's unfortunate that only negative reviews have been added to Glassdoor for Info Concepts. I have had a great experience with them. I first joined the company in 2008 and stayed for 2 years before moving away. When I returned to the area in 2011, I readily re-joined the company. My situation is unique; I'm a military spouse who gets moved around and Info Concepts offered to let me continue in my position as a telecommuting employee.

Over the course of the three years total that i've been with Info Concepts, i've been given the ability to wear multiple hats and have been given growth opportunities that will benefit me if I decide to move on in my career.

Cons – Info Concepts' small company culture could be seen as a con to some. Not everyone is the right fit for a small company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Information Concepts full-time for less than a year

Pros – There were some nice people working there, but that was about it.

Cons – There is nothing positive to say about this place. The management had severe anger management issues resulting in constant screaming at employees in front of people. Management was cheap, so cheap it cut into productivity. The core of their business is development, yet they refused to pay more than $5 for a keyboard. Management would not listen to reason, they would not change their mind now matter how bad an idea was. You can show countless articles, whitepapers, etc saying how I problem should be resolved, they would blow it off. Finally, the management would only hire attractive women to work in the office.

Advice to Senior Management – There is nothing that can be said to these guys. They are lost in their own world.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company