I was a manager with a stellar career at Bah. I left because I was offered a better opportunity with another firm.
No clear path for promotion, it differed from team to team. You may be amazing on one team, you’re up for promotion, then switch teams to chase an opportunity, and all of a sudden none of your previous hard work matters and you’re starting from scratch.
Perception is everything there.
Constantly reorganizing internally.
You are always walking on egg shells waiting for a “lack of work” notice.
Work/life balance is awful. If you have a family, be prepared to make some pretty difficult choices in terms of work vs family. Either your family will suffer because you are working all of the time or you will have a difficult time being promoted because of the perception you aren’t working enough.
No OT unless you are junior. Otherwise, be prepared to work long hours with little more than just your own self satisfaction that you did a job well done.
Someone once told me, “After working in a chicken coop for a long time, you forget how bad it smells. It’s only after you leave, you realize how bad it was.”
I totally agree with that statement when it comes to my time spent there. I feel thankful for my time there, but never realized how stressful it was until I left and started working at another company. In hindsight, I wouldn’t change a thing. But moving forward, As a father/husband, I wouldn’t work there again and subject my family to the crazy long hours and stress. If you aren’t physically working there all of the time, you’re answering emails on your phone all night/weekend. Additionally, you may put in 60 hours of work in a week, but if you didn’t put 40 of those hours toward a contract and did internal work for Booz Allen, your career may be in jeopardy and you could end up with a lack of work notice.
They don’t truly value experience. If you have been there for a long time, your “rate” may price you out of opportunities.
