Pros
This is an outstanding location for younger technicians who are looking to begin their career. You will have the opportunity to learn a wide array of small business technologies. The pay structure is fair to neutral. You're not going to make a bundle working for this company but you will be paid fairly. The culture seems to be fun and very hard working. It lends itself to a close nit group once you are inside of the group within the group.
Cons
CSS is very unclear about directions, goals and objectives. Overtime here is a must, which includes a lot of weekend work if you are working on projects. This would be fine, if the firm were transparent about it during the interview process. Unfortunately, that wasn't my experience. Working 60-70 hours per week here is not uncommon. To be fair, this can be a benefit to an engineer looking to build their career. Unfortunately, it is not discussed clearly during the interviewing process so if you are taking a technical role within this organization be certain to ask questions thoroughly about what the company will need from you in terms of your hours and availability. Make certain that the owners are CLEAR with you about what they need from you. My experience with them is they truly want you at their disposal whenever and wherever the need arrises. This includes if you have a family, young children, pets, etc. This is not a company to work for if you have a family on the network services side of the business. The people who tend to be successful are young professionals who take a lot of pride in the projects that they are working on, but it is extremely common for those engineers to work long hours and weekends. I was stunned when people who were taking days off, were still reporting into work for meetings remotely. They called it dedication, I called it a lack of priority to yourself and your family. Most of their clients are VERY small businesses with very small budgets. You will be limited in terms of the scope of work you will work on. The company has very little standards that they adhere to. They are trying to deal with this but right now the firm is growing and due to that growth, the environment is a bit like controlled chaos. The owners purchased a business that was already working and made a strategic decision to add networking/break fix services. While they have four very capable engineers currently running their particular projects, the rest of that organization is a mess and often looked at "why doesn't this side of the business run as efficiently as the other side of the business?". Well, because you didn't put together that side of the business. You made a smart investment with staff that were preexisting who had workflows that were already in place. They do NOT meet their minimum agreements with their customers. Their basic contract is to ensure that their clients are protected (viruses, security threats, etc), secured, and regularly maintained. This is the area in which they struggle the most. The backlog of service tickets within this organization to meet their basic promise to their clients is not ignored, I truly believe the company has their clients best interests in mind. That being said, if their clients had any idea just how poorly they are executing on their promise, I think they would lose a significant portion of their client base. This company needs strategic planning and a thoughtful approach to changing their business to meet their clients needs. Unfortunately, my experience with them is that they are afraid of change (which is not uncommon for businesses). Their staff is extremely top heavy and their junior level staff is grossly undertrained. The firm knows this and does make an attempt to encourage it, but let me be clear, education and training are NOT a pillar of this companies culture. It is a very reactive culture, not proactive. Couple that approach with being afraid of change, and you have the makings of a firm who may be in trouble with their client base. This of course is unfortunate because again, I truly believe that they have the very best of intentions for their clients. More so, the primary owner is trusted amongst his clients, and rightfully so. Finally, this is ultimately a family run business. Mom and dad own the business, their son works there and is the financial controller (which from an ethics standpoint is a BIG No No). Their daughter works within the company as well (although she has a lesser role within the organization). Thoughts of nepotism and ethical concerns are fair here from an outsiders point of view. I want to be fair to these folks however. Their educational backgrounds strongly suggest that they are qualified for their roles. That being said, there is just something very off about a family member working within a business and controlling the books.