Booz Allen Hamilton reviews

While nice, most people, especially management won't go out of their way for you. You are entirely responsible for remaining billable and seeking billable work, which can make the environment very cut throat. Overtime is expected all the time, not occasionally. The "work hard, play hard" mentality of rewarding hard working employees is long gone. Raises are contingent upon if your client agrees to the increase. The ability to occasionally work from home - for me - has never become the reality. My last contract did not allow for a good work-life balance, the client was awful, and I was pressured to not find a position more in line with my qualifications because they didn't want to have to find a replacement. I wasn't allowed to truly consult and provide recommendations or improve the processes I was hired to do so. Every time corporate takes away another benefit they try to "sell" the employees on how great it is to be more "aligned" to the rest of the industry. When I joined the company they had consistently been on the top 100 companies to work for. Not so anymore.

BAH is too big for its own good, and your experience will significantly depend on which team you fall into. The team that I was on was hostile and aggressive in ways that I believe approached illegality. They believed that all software developers had equal talent and skill, and saw the devs as entirely replaceable "butts in seats" that could be replaced at a moment's notice - so, it was in their best interest to burn those people out, in order to maximize their output until they hit the breaking point. Then, they'd just swap in someone new. This was an environment where tensions ran so high that in-office screaming matches were not all that unusual. I felt like I was in a truly hostile work environment, and like my work wasn't valued -- all the while being paid a significantly below-market salary with mediocre, at-best, benefits. Oh, and if you're not high enough in the firm to be winning new contracts, you're referred to internally as a "junior employee." It doesn't feel great when your business card says "Lead Software Engineer" and your manager calls you, to your face, like it's no big deal, a "junior employee." Avoid working here.