Good company, but not good to work for
Pros
I worked here for almost 5 years and my experience was not typical. I had good bosses, a great project, and good coworkers. Good food options for surrounding restaurants Stable employment due to banking clients Argo is willing to take a chance on college students Good HR department Good look inside typical corporate company
Cons
All of the pros i talked about evaporated. My bosses found other employment elsewhere, I had some really bad projects, and my coworkers kept leaving as well. I felt it was time to do the same. I felt the technology I was working with was stunting my growth as a developer. The practice of hiring in college graduates really backfired more times than not. The brain drain present in most companies extended from lowest levels to upper ranks here. It was hard to keep projects going sometimes because the people who led them would leave along with the people who really knew the inner workings. I left because I told my manager of my career goals and I was told that it would not be possible while I was at ARGO. I felt that i had to be lucky because advancement on merit was rare. Someone had to like you and you had to have the right opportunity to shine. That did not present itself to everyone. Mediocrity was allowed to continue working there while the best and brightest quit or moved onto more strategic roles. Further Cons: Outdated technology Micromanagement / Top down corporate mandates standard fare Low Morale / Feeling of hopelessness in employees No typical tech company perks Healthcare standard but expensive 401k matching ok at best No flexibility in working from home No ability to influence the way the company works Pay lags behind industry Employees get quickly burned out more often than not Low employee mobility for advancement Too much reliance on outdated ideas / not enough time spent adapting to/investigating new practices and standards Little Work /Life Balance
