Pros
I worked with a bunch of nice people. This is NOT including upper level management with the notable exception of the Programming Director who’s very knowledgeable and knows how to treat his employees with respect and consideration not to mention fight for them when necessary.
Cons
Too many to count, but I’ll give you some highlights. No training. -No equipment provided; except for some old Dell 400SC desktops from 1998. You will more than likely be asked to provide your own equipment including cell phone and will not get compensated for usage while traveling for the company. -Travel expenses reimbursement would be a joke if it wasn't so tragic. I know many of the members of my team were overdrawn and were charged late fees on their credit cards on a regular basis due to the slowness with which they got remunerated after travel. And in some cases, the charges were disputed. (Coffee is not breakfast and therefore we will not pay it. Coffee and a donut is) I know it sounds trivial but multiply that by several charges and different types of meals and sometimes the figure came close to $100.00 per trip. -Hours - You have to get up in the middle of the night for upgrades, updates or other maintenance scheduled by the company with no consideration for your personal life or compensation for the extra effort. Of course, you must also come in to the office to complete your work day; again, no extra compensation or comp-time for that matter. -Travel: I’m an expert on this one. Forget about direct flights. Forget about reasonable travel hours. Forget about car rental insurance (that comes out of your pocket). If you happen to land a decent flight out at say 10:30 am.. you better come to the office early enough to get some work done before heading out to the airport and of course, since you are traveling early then you must also head straight to the hospital you are traveling to as soon as you land. Keep your meals within a very small per diem (See travel expenses comment above). Travel on weekends and staying over on site over the weekend is a regular thing, no compensation of any type for this either. I found myself getting home between 2-4 am on Saturday and at times leaving again on Sunday. If I happen to arrive on Sunday you must start your regular week on Monday again as if nothing had happened (No compensation for this either. I hope you are getting the idea here.. I hate to keep repeating myself) -Benefits: Joke. That’s all I’m going to say. -Compensation: Nothing above would go under “Cons” if we were being compensated appropriately or at least on par with the industry standard. But let me just say that at the time I left (less than 2 years ago) Not one of the members of my team was making more than I was and I was not anywhere near 50k a year. You must remember, most of us were certified technicians working with Server 2000-2003 environments and SQL databases among other applications and environments (Citrix). -Upper management: A bunch of greedy ingrates with no consideration for any of their employees or their families. (See exception under the “Pros” column). In some cases they actually referred to some of their employees as cancers (I myself witnessed this) simply because they voiced their opinions. It was sad for us to see how low they had gone. So, why did I last so long you ask? Well, look at the “Pros” and you’ll see part of the answer. Also, at the time it was hard for us to leave since we were always on the road with no possibility of scheduling an interview and the job market for our skillset was not the best. I actually had to conduct 3 of the 5 interviews for the job I currently hold over the phone. Thanks to a very understanding HR manager. The other two I actually had to call in sick just to make sure I wouldn’t travel and thus be able to attend the final interviews. In closing, go ahead, apply I dare you. But if you decide to take the offer you will not be able to say I didn’t warn you.