Pros
-Friendly and supportive environment -Lots of opportunities for junior developers to learn and grow -The owners have a lot of heart and work to treat their employees well -Occasional fun activities like a step competition and company parties -Heavy emphasis on work/life balance -Somewhat flexible scheduling (depending on team) -Ability to work from home (also based on team)
Kontras
-Instability around gov't contracts create uncertainty and decrease morale -Company resources are largely focused on developing a commercial application called Inspire. Employees are required to use it so that management can monitor their performance. -Employees are required to create quarterly "goals" using Inspire that are difficult to get approved by management (too ambitious, not ambitious enough, too aligned with daily work, not aligned enough with daily work, etc) -Benefits are fairly skim and there are no annual bonuses since all the company's resources go towards funding Inspire -Lots of icky legacy code and outdated technology -Work is stale and lacks inspiration -Pay is low relative to experience -Lack of opportunities for promotion or advancement (nepotism) -Product owners are former military members that don't understand technology and hold too much control over the development process