Pros
+ Loose dress code for the Website Development Department + Listen to music, audio books, podcasts, etc. while you work + Great, helpful co-workers + Fun co-workers in the Website Development Department + Beautiful area to work and live in.
Cons
Disclaimer: I can only speak for the Website Development Department in the Duluth, MN branch, so some of these cons might not be present in another department or branch. - The company as a whole is extremely sales focused, meaning if you're not in the sales department, you're treated like you're not as important. Every quarter, the company has "P.R.I.D.E. Meetings" which update the entire company on how things are going. This is great until the CEO begins mentioning how much money employees from Sales made. - This might be a pro for some people, but ARI has a very obvious "corporate" feel. This limits employees, especially in the Website Development Department, in the ability to be creative and express themselves through their work - the management create standard operating procedures (SOPs) on how ANYTHING is done, making the cookie-cutter websites even more cookie cutter-esque. - The different departments around the Duluth office are very "clique-ish," meaning there is very little blending of two or more departments. Everyone seems to stick to their department and not converge with others. - If you are looking at a position in the Website Development Department, you will not be doing true web development. For the graphic designers, the sites' Photoshop files (PSDs) have to be organized and look a certain way. For the site maintenance and site builders, you must take a pre-made template and edit settings according to the aforementioned PSD, or update the site in a specific way. In either case, this is not true web development, and limits your creativity, especially if you work as a "website developer". - If you are looking to specifically join the "website build" team, prepare to be shut down in any creative ideas that you have, prepare to be told you're wrong (even when you absolutely know you're right), prepare to be micro-managed A LOT, and prepare to be paid the very least for what you do--less than HALF of the national average. In addition, because you will be making cookie-cutter websites and be extremely limited in what coding languages or techniques you can do, you will be less likely to be hired for a real web development position from another company - I recommend staying on top of the latest web development trends in your free time because you will not learn any new trends here. They don't even do responsive design at the time of this review.
