Pros
Competent folks- The technical staff are in fact, very competent. Smart, hard-working. Many a bit stand-offish, but all around, good staff.
Company Car- Not uncommon but still a perk.
Certifications- They will pay for your certs and professional hours.
Cons
Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty- This place demands loyalty. There will be many tests along the way, and if you fail, it WILL take you months, if ever, to prove yourself loyal enough; held to some obtuse metric. Technical ability, clients procured, even hours worked means less in the eyes of MGMT, than loyalty. This is a job; not a religion or family.
95% retention rate of senior staff- This is something I hear over and over during my time here. This is a half-truth. Yes, there is low turnover of Senior staff….but when you look closer, you see why. In locations with very low populations, like Elmira, Binghamton, Plattsburgh; Senior staff does seem to stick around. And that’s likely due to the fact that there’s almost nowhere else to work in these small towns. When you look at offices in larger markets, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse; that’s where that number evaporates. If you look at years worked in the city locations, you have a few that have been there 20 plus years (majority in MGMT), and a majority under 3 years. Why? Because there are other, better options available. Do what I’m doing. Get your training, get your certs, and keep looking.
What they hire you for vs what they actually ask you to do- I was hired to do X. I’m very good at it and was the largest reason they hired me. Shortly after I was hired, they asked me to forget about X, and focus on Z. Something way outside my skillset. I understand employers will ask staff to wear several hats, which is to be expected, but my understanding was I would do X while also helping with Y and Z; not abandon X altogether. That’s a big red flag.
MGMT top heavy- So many managers and directors, so few Senior staff to do the actual work.
Work-life balance- Even as Senior staff….good luck getting time off during summer months, you know, the nice weather ones where kids are out of school and outdoor activities abound? Very few holidays given, no 401k match for the first year, poor healthcare options, and painfully slow time off accrual (2 weeks plus 1 week sick time). This falls dramatically short by several weeks compared to ATL’s direct competitors.
Poor MGMT- Your manager will likely have little to no technical background, but berate you on you performance; valid reasons or not. In other companies, where MGMT will at least have spent time in the trenches and worked their way up, here it seems like they were plucked from various, non-related backgrounds, and are here to give you a hard time. They have ZERO leadership, or mentorship skills. Another red flag.