Pros
There are some wonderful people I get to work with every day. This may not sound like its as important as career growth, compensation etc etc. But it makes a huge difference who you spend 2,000+ hours a year with. Carollo is strange in that each office has a different culture. Some of the offices couldn't be further apart. The Denver office is a great place to work. Work life balance can be achieved with some pushing back on upper management and proper work load planning. Technical excellence is at the heart of almost every project we do. Teamwork in Carollo is very successful across numerous offices. Generally people are very polite helpful and responsive.
Cons
Once you get to a certain point in your career in this there is a glass ceiling. If you aren't in the right "technical area" you will not get opportunities to lead projects or teams. PM's, office managers, client service managers almost all leadership is in the hands of process/environmental engineers. Not surprising given the focus of the company and great if you happen to be one. But if you aren't, it is extremely limiting to your career development. The same can be said for allocation of training resources etc. The attitude of management is that everyone but process is just a cost to the business that needs to be minimized. What they fail to realize is the value and expertise they have in those "support" group and how much more they could contribute to the company if they were run as business units and not as a function the business utilities. The company was reorganized a few years back in an attempt to create more opportunity than was available in the partner model. This was a a complete con. Just added more level of VP's, associates. Titles were handed out left and right that supposedly denote your level of authority. The decision making authority part was true, but most of these mid level managers VP's and associates are working ridiculous hours trying to get ahead and break through into the upper management. Upper management hasn't changed. There is still very little opportunity for advancement. The old partner group is still reaping the benefits of everyone's work. Bonuses and pay raises are pathetic, yet old " partners" are doing very well financially. What is really annoying is some of them don't even work particularly hard these days. Those individuals are milking the firm and waiting for retirement. The company management is extremely tight lipped about finances and distribution of earnings. But you don't have to look to hard before you figure out where all the profits are going. They do not reward hard work or personal growth in a meaningful way here. I plan on taking an opportunity elsewhere in the coming months.