Sidley Austin Career Development FAQ

Pros

Very nice team and good opportunities

Cons

Workload is high at times, but that’s common in the industry

Pros

Great benefits, company reputation, friendly work environment

Cons

Lack of growth opportunities, poor employ annual review/compensation process

Pros

Been at Sidley nearly 10 years in various different IT roles: . great pay and benefits . flexible remote work schedule . decent work life balance if you stand your ground and don't allow yourself to be given too much work . this varies from department to department but generally you are not micromanaged and are given autonomy to complete projects your way. this enables for more creative solutions . despite appearances, the IT back end is actually pretty sophisticated and modern in some ways, which means fewer unexpected outages to deal with during off hours and good opportunities to learn popular technologies used in this industry and others . committed to diversity beyond just paying lip service. Genuinely good place to work if you are LGBTQ+ . well established blue chip firm solid business model and future prospects

Cons

. the typical problems law firms have, only the lawyers and partners matter, and they view IT as a burdensome cost center and are uninterested in learning anything about how we do our jobs, only that they get what they need from us right away no matter what. This is more of an industrywide problem than anything unique to Sidley. . technology stack moves at a glacial pace and you will likely fall behind other programmers if you spend too much time here. . you will rarely receive any commendation or even acknowledgement for hard work, if that's important to you. . management is totally uninterested in feedback from lower level workers, directives come down from the top level with little room for discussion, sometimes resulting in unrealistic expectations and deadlines

Pros

Excellent benefits Employee focused Wonderful work environment

Cons

IT needs to provide better career path for employees Annual raises and bonuses are lacking

Advice to Management

They have the right concept for employee focus, just need to provide better career path for IT.

Pros

Great people; great benefits; and the opportunity to hear about complex legal issues that give you a leg up in law school

Cons

Some tedious/monotonous projects; long hours even for support staff; and no guarantees of coming back as an attorney if interested