Pros
XPERTECHS runs a very niche MSP operation which allows them to specialize in the technologies they’re strong in and choose their clients wisely. Since they choose great clients, they’re a joy to collaborate with. XPERTECHS does try their best to be on the cutting edge of technology and encourages their employees to go get certified to further develop their skills. The original owner of the company would check on people and see how they were doing and encourage them, which would bring a smile to anyone around. This is more role dependent.. but they tend to respect the employees’ boundaries by not asking them to work outside of work hours. I say it’s role dependent because engineers seem to have to work many long/late hours, but most others clock out on time 95% of the time with no issues. They run the organization using a framework that provides the leadership team the structure and guidance they need for how to run a successful operation, and they follow the principles of that framework most of the time. There are frequent internal position changes/promotions for those that show ambition and growth. They don’t have growth tracks for all departments, but at least for most of the employees who start at Level 1, they have plenty of paths open to them. Also since it’s a small business, if you want to learn something or try something new, everyone in the company is a dm away and there’s always opportunities for you to do more. Senior Leadership does prioritize continuous improvement which contributes to their overall growth and posture.
Cons
Some call it “job security” while others call it “not enough team members to complete the volume of work” .. take your pick. There’s also a culture of management expecting employees to do more than their role.. in the SMB world, you need people to do that.. but I witnessed first-hand a great employee standing out while they were performing at peak, and then for them to be told soon after they were “not meeting expectations” because they “set the bar too high” for themselves previously.. even though during the period of time they were being reviewed for, there were plenty of data/metrics that showed the employee completing plenty of work to deserve a more fair rating. I never had an employee review that I felt my supervisor put lots of time into. One time they picked one scenario that had constructive criticism to be upset about and used it to tarnish the whole review. The other times they said things like “we love what you’re doing, keep it up” with no growth/development opportunities for me to take away, which felt like they prepared for my review DURING my review, and not before. If you want to work somewhere that’s very transparent about the financials of the company or why there are structural changes to how they compensate employees.. this is probably not the right place for you. They’re behind the times with competitive compensation and have been known to change/remove positive compensation programs without telling employees. I was personally told during my interviews that they did Certification Pools during some quarters and would give Christmas bonuses and I never experienced either of those during my tenure. Tough to say what the reasoning was there because they weren’t transparent with why those went away. They would share internally their Gross Profits each year, and both years I was there, they recorded record-profits. They’ll pay for your medical premium, but when you go to use it, you’ll find out how that works out. I personally would have rather had an option to upgrade to a better plan even if it meant paying for it myself. Lastly.. Several members of Management/Senior Leadership tend to have a defensive nature when faced with opposition and challenges. Mistakes happen and we’re all human, but in the times I tried to give constructive criticism or disagreed on something and sought conversation about it, I was met with lots of defensiveness or deflecting tactics.