Politics galore and a systemic lack of focus on not treating people like units of production
Pros
- Decent pay - Plenty of work - Interaction with clients - Peers are invested in your development - Better than bad
Cons
- Watched the movie office space, and then realized it was literally the same. - Positive/negative experience varies wildly between departments/groups - Couldn't retain younger staff to save their lives - Can't see past this month's revenue - Management is constantly running around with their hair on fire because their section didn't meet goals that management set without acknowledging the market or the revenue capacity of those in their charge - Revenue as the only metric of growth, and they refuse to look at anything else - "Trail by fire" as a training policy - Management treats training new staff like a new years resolution. Encourage it until they feel good about themselves, and then demand that more experienced engineers get back to producing revenue, leaving new staff drowning in the deep end - Management will listen to complaints, but turn into yes-men as soon as anyone higher up the ladder disagrees - Incredibly strong silo mentality between groups despite having the motto "One UL" - Tolerate abusive management and politics - Have built a new lobby, cafeteria, and road, and have spent millions of dollars hosting Golf tournaments instead of updating 50 year old labs, backing the retirement plan, or investing in the staff