Pros
- Good opportunities for hands-on experience with applicable technologies - Can be a good resume builder for someone just starting out - Good 401k benefits with company matching
Cons
- Horrible and disconnected senior management - Medical benefits are a joke ($1200 deductible before ANY benefits kick in, the company labeled this as a "consumer driven" plan, which basically means that the employee pays for their own healthcare - Work/life balance is unreal. There are people on my team (on salary) who regularly put in 60+ hours per week with no let up in sight on projects that continually have money thrown at them with no real thought put into system fixes. If you enjoy always being attached to your blackberry/laptop and getting interrupted from your personal life to attend to issues on a 24 x 7 basis (even when you're not on-call), then you'll love it here. Release management is a joke - management expects employees to work on the weekends multiple weeks in a row without providing comp time during the week. Salaried employees, mind you. There's no overtime pay for all of these hours - I believe I heard there's a class action lawsuit pending against the company in Texas. - Employee cell phone plan is ludicrous - I do get a reduced rate on my bill but it's only 20% of what a customer would pay. Bottom line: I started with AT&T Wireless back in 2001 and loved it, and planned on retiring from the company if it stayed the same. We were bought out by Cingular and things were different, but not that negative - just different. Then AT&T (SBC) bought us and that's when I saw the downfall occur. Employee morale went way south, benefits were slashed, and even plastic knives, spoons and forks were no longer provided along with coffee pots being taken out since we had no "budget" for such items while Randall and others receive their bonuses. It's just made for a sour work environment with the lack of understanding from management about what a work/life balance really means. People put in their hard work, long hours away from family and friends, and really have no show of appreciation other than a form email from Randall saying "good job". Depressing. I can honestly say it's a depressing state of affairs to work here....so if you're thinking of applying here, DON'T DO IT!
