Argo Data reviews

The starting pay is laughable, and doesn't get much better from there. Management has unnecessarily high expectations on all employees. To just meet expectations you must go above and beyond the call of duty. Many who exceeded expectations were told they were paid well enough for their work, and they shouldn't expect to see anything any time soon. The timelines are bad, enforced by the Iron Hammer of Max and David. Any reasonable Scope Estimates for projects are immediately quartered, and using more than half that amount puts the project under fire. ARGO Management boasted >$150M in the bank, trying to achieve 100M profit annually, and yet no compensation was given to employees. Raises and promotions only happen to those who threaten to quit. Bonuses were promised in the employee "contract", but were never given. I had bonuses dangled in front of my nose, but they got lost in the bureaucratic nonsense. Speaking to a current employee, those bonuses are _still_ promised to "happen very soon" but nothing has come of any of them. Argo uses an in-house proprietary language that is too simplistic for modern day working. Development skills will atrophy for anyone forced to use this language for an extended period of time. There were measures taken to improve that, but getting on the team to modernize the application is extremely difficult and unlikely to happen. Argo never closes, and does not allow remote development! If the weather is hazardous, it will cost you a personal day (vacation must be scheduled weeks in advance), otherwise you must drive in to the office. If a project is against the grindstone (see Scope Estimates), be prepared to work on holidays and weekends. There is no OTP. While there are many good employees, there are lots of bad ones. I have captured many of the employees asleep in their cubes, playing solitaire instead of working, or just idly chatting with their buddies instead of working. It was very demoralizing to know that while I busted my rump to get my work done, these people pulled the same amount I did. Discussing these employees with management was met with "We'll put them on a PMP" and then nothing.

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