Pros
Mostly casual environment Clients present interesting work opportunities Great hardware support and local IT (workstations, servers, etc) Much of the work is easy once you understand the proprietary system Many employees have stayed employed here for 15+ years Small team feel but part of a large corporation Opportunity to travel and see your software running in the field is fulfilling
Kontras
Extremely conservative and old fashioned (waterfall, preference for paper over computers) Senior members actively resist new technology and software practices Project management has been a weakness for years and is not improving Staffing company mentality, history of no severance and no warning dismissals Corporate IT presents many challenges and painful restrictions, lacks focus on productivity and customer success Career advancement is almost non-existent as the goal is to keep people in the same positions forever and avoid re-training costs Management does not participate in career advancement coaching or mentoring Promises from management are often never realized All testing is manual and management is opposed to automated testing Testing and development work is often extremely repetitive Culture of 'work harder, not smarter' Technical achievements often not recognized, working late doing repetitive tasks rewarded and celebrated Office environment could be a lot cleaner Often asked to work nights and weekends with no compensation (occasional pizza at best)