Pros
My peers on the Datacenter team were nothing short of first rate. These are some of the smartest and savviest pros with whom I have worked. The bonuses were decent. These people are a real asset to CP, an asset that management is squandering. I want to note here that the managers are also fantastic professionals – the issues that I will lay out in the “cons” section are targeted at the levels above “managers” and below CIO.
Cons
Work life balance doesn’t exist – you will work a 9 to 10 hour day in the office then 3 or 4 hours at home at night during the “change window” – working from 8 to 5 then working 9 PM to 11 or midnight on a regular basis plus working 3 or 4 weekend’s every month made a personal life an unattainable luxury – burnout is the rule of the day at CP in the IS groups. There is no career path or promotion opportunity unless you are in some mysterious inner circle. I could never get any info on promotions. Some people get mysterious promotions but there is no path for it. The appearance is that all who have been promoted have long standing relationships with a senior member of management – I guess some people just like to take care of friends. CP is forcing technical professionals to take over a month long training to be a rail conductor. This is absurd. As IT professionals we are there to support and empower the rail workers, not work on the rails ourselves. We generally do not want to participate in Hunter Harrisons efforts to undermine union labor. There are many more problems but other reviews have touched on most of the key points and I don’t want to be redundant - suffice to say it is a bad place to work.