Pros
Mission. We are helping to secure U.S. and global commercial and government infrastructure from real-world advanced persistent threats. If you're interested in working for a company that takes the idea of "service" seriously, this is the place for you. Many people here come from backgrounds in the NSA, CIA, and U.S. military. Everyone here believes that we are working towards achieving a goal larger than growing the company's bottom line. People. Praetorian spends significant energy and resources making sure that the people we hire are in the top 1% of their field. That means that there's always someone around you that you can learn from. If you like to be challenged and you love to constantly learn and improve, this is the place for you. The people here work hard and, on occasion, long hours to make sure their part of their project is done well. If you are intimidated by working alongside peers that are strong performers or like to be a big fish in a little pond, then this is likely not the company for you. People here are generous of their time and knowledge. Prima donnas and narcissists won't fit in with the culture. Executive Leadership. The CEO is among the most generous and thoughtful people I've ever met. He views this company as an extension of his family and treats employees as such. He's also very intelligent and a shrewd businessman as can be seen by the meteoric growth of the company over the last five years. The CEO and executive team are very serious about transparency and hold company level meetings twice a week to ensure every employee is up to date on the direction of the company and the status of progress toward strategic and quarterly goals. During these meetings, employees are able to directly ask questions and receive answers about anything on their mind. Praetorian has been on the "Best Places to Work" list consistently for years and has also been on the Inc. 5000 list for years as well. These things speak to the leadership of the organization making the right choices, not only for the business itself, but also for the people that work here.
Cons
Remote Work. When the pandemic hit, Praetorian went to a 100% remote work environment. While many people have enjoyed working from home, there have also been some growing pains as employees who preferred working in an office environment adjusted and while managers figured out how to manage and lead teams they can't interact with personally. While this problem is certainly not unique to Praetorian in these times, it has caused some friction. More recently, Praetorian has reopened offices for employees, but with new waves of COVID on the horizon we could be in for more work from home. Salary. While Praetorian pays above industry average and offers stock options as part of an overall compensation package, salaries here do not compare to companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, etc. The fact is, Praetorian is a ~100 person company and can't afford to pay salaries like the largest tech firms can. If your main goal is to make $400k+ a year, then Praetorian is not going to get you there. Burnout. One of the great things about working in the security services field is that you get to partner with new clients all the time. One of the worst things about working in the security services field is that you are partnering with new clients all the time. Typical projects last from two to six weeks and then the next project will start up on the heels of the previous one. This rhythm is an amazing way to get years' worth of security engineering experience in a few months' worth of real time when compared to working on a security team at a typical company. This rhythm also becomes tiresome for some people who begin to yearn for a job with less churn in their daily responsibilities. This is the nature of the security services industry, but it's certainly not for everyone (or at least not forever).