Hard to imagine where I'd be in life if I wasn't working for such an amazing company.
Pros
After working at BS&A Software for a little over 5 years I can truly say I've never been happier with my career decision. I began my journey with the company as an intern and I was fortunate enough to be offered a full-time position after graduating from college. The time I was able to spend as an intern with the company allowed me to see some of the great qualities that make this company stand out amongst others and why I chose to work here full time. For starters, the first thing I quickly noticed was the overall atmosphere of the company. Being a smaller company, you have a sense of that 'family' bond with your co-workers and management. There is no strict dress code in place which allows you to feel comfortable while you are at work. Furthermore, they company is extremely gracious when it comes to any personal time you may need to take. There's been several times where there's either been a family emergency where I've had to head out early or a doctor's appointment that I just couldn't schedule outside of working hours and they've never had an issue with me taking the time off. Plus, as a developer there are times where I've had to work at home due to work being done on the house and it's never been an issue. There's a strong emphasis placed on being able to self-manage yourself as a developer. There is very little neck breathing done by upper management when it comes to software projects. It is expected of you that you will obviously be capable of handling this, so if you need to be hand-held or directed on a constant basis you'll probably not thrive in this type of environment. For me personally, its allowed me to grow as a professional and constantly challenge myself.
Cons
Although they are few and far between, there are a few areas that I feel the company could improve upon which I'm sure they'd agree with as well. Being a smaller company, there is definitely a lack of a structured system in place for new hires. Specifically, there is no program which you are trained on to help you get up to speed with the software development process. Communication can often be difficult at times as it is quite rare for the company to hold any sort of weekly meetings for the developers to communicate who is working on what. However, with such a small pool of developers this may not be necessary at this point but if they company continues to grow it may be required. Lastly, there is no official 'QA' department which is purely dedicated to testing the software products. Currently, our technical staff which is responsible for taking customer phone calls are also responsible for testing the products as well. During busier times, it's often difficult for updates to be tested in a timely manner.
