Pros
Excellent pay/benefits package Most senior employees are very knowledgeable Good training (you have to ask for it) Flexible work environment (time off when needed, plenty of PTO) They used to pay 100% tuition, but now only pay $8,000 per year. Better than nothing. As a field tech you can make 100k plus / yr with a lot of OT, and its not impossible to get hired without a 4yr degree. Most field techs have a 2yr degree or high school diploma. I only had a diploma when I started in a call center, then took a promotion to work in the field. During the time when VZ offered 100% tuition payment they paid 75k for college tuition.
Cons
Senior management is not good. Seems as though your living on the razors edge every time a new union contract is about to be ratified. The last thing we want as hourly employees is to lose our pension or health benfits, but the first thing management wants is just that. Old high mileage service trucks. The union is great for what it does, but what it doesnt do is allow the good techs more job security than the bad ones. If a tech has 35yrs with the company and still doesnt know how to work a copper pair, hes still going to get laid of after the guy with 5 years that has to correct all his mistakes. This makes no sense at all... Additionally there should be a larger performance incentive for the folks who are doing their jobs well. This year they have reinstated a meager 2-4% pay increase for the very few techs that can meet extremely stringent metrics. If you can make the numbers they want the pay increase should be a minimum 10% increase, 20% would be very fair considering if you actually can make the numbers they want you are obviously making the company way more money than the ones who cant.