Pros
Great coworkers. Free soda / vending machines. Flexible (for a time) on the ability to work from home.
Cons
- Poor planning and adherence to SDLC best practices. I was on a very high profile project, with intense demands, yet no true project plan or standardized procedures were ever followed, despite being CMMI level 4. - Extremely convoluted management structure. I received direction from approximately 15 different managers at different levels, often receiving conflicting orders. There was a reorganization of the project 4 times, each time making things more chaotic. - Lack of communication from management and between teams. The project was very siloed, resulting in teams often coming to different conclusions or creating duplicative work. As the project began to tank, management kept employees less and less informed. - Poor scope management. Consistently agreed to client requests, without properly analyzing the affect on time and schedule. - Extremely long hours. Consistently worked 60-80 hour weeks. There was a prison-like atmosphere near the end of the project, where management refused to let employees leave, and held teams in conference rooms for strict, 11 hour shifts while taking attendance.