Pros
- Hourly pay (the overtime adds up quickly) - PTO is fairly generous - Somewhat flexible schedule - Interesting work - Friendly engineers and designers - Most people besides management are very knowledgeable - Free fruit & coffee
Kontras
- Impossible work loads prevent you from ever using PTO, except when you run out of work due to lack of projects/funding - Work loads were poorly managed/delegated such that you are either buried or have no work at all - 60 hrs/week is expected - A job well done only earns you more work - No training or development - A well-designed product takes a backseat to making things look good (from a liability standpoint) on paper. - Company makes money based on hours, meaning there is no incentive to get a job done quickly. - Management is terrible at communicating crucial project information and blames others for mistakes made on their part - Everything is micro-managed. Nobody is trusted by management - You are held accountable for things outside of your control (funding, shifting project deadlines, changes in design scope, broken computers, etc.) - No incentives, raises, promotions, or other growth potential - Inefficiencies due to the customer's stringent, lengthy, and sometimes self-conflicting requirements - Misleading recruiters that feed blatant lies about the position and benefits - Benefits (besides PTO) were sub-par. 401(k) match was below industry average and had 3 year vesting. - Your job security is based entirely on whether funding continues to flow from the single client company. - High turnover due to reasons above has created a turnover mentality in management/recruiting (ie, employees are just numbers)