Great company from the client's perspective, dysfunctional HQ
Pros
Great working in the field with the clients. Clients have a lot of respect for CAI. Decent benefits. Pay is OK. Great place to start out for a junior person. CEO is a big visionary. Company and employees are very giving to the community and charities. Admin employees are top notch, payroll, benefits, AP, AR... If an employee or a client has a question or needs help they are top notch. Nice summer picnics, mixers. Fantastic Christmas party. Free coffee and sodas.
Cons
Senior management is disconnected from the client and marketplace needs. The CEO makes decisions without consulting his clients or his own people. There are some pretty smart people there but they are not respected. The managers that get ahead are the ones that lie and tell the CEO what he wants to hear. There is a CAI-speak where words are made up or industry known terms are redefined. The folks begin talking this way but when they go into the marketplace and talk to other experts they have trouble communicating and being seen as credible because of their misunderstanding and misuse of generally accepted terms. It's like there are two totally different companies. One very client focused that services the clients and then there is HQ that has no regard for its people, the market it's serving, technical trends, etc. HQ computing development and architecture understanding is entrenched in the 1980s. Probably that is because the CEO started the company at that time but his understanding of what is available and acceptable has not changed since. Pay has been frozen for years. Only the select few on the inside get bonuses and raises. The company is growing and doing rather well. Many unhappy employees as a result. Morale is at an all time low. Surveys have been sent out but many people either don't want to fill them out or are uncomfortable filling out how they really feel for fear of reprisals, as they don't believe they are anonymous. Recruiting favors the CEOs alma mata, PSU. They hire candidates from there without regard for if they are the best candidate. The IT HQ organization is very dysfunctional. The CIO recently made changes to the organization structure, moved people's desks, changed their job function and announced this in an all hands meeting. He didn't have the courtesy to talk to people ahead of time. Can you imagine? Changing someone's job function, career, their future, where they sit, who they report to and you find out along with 100 people. Not cool. Many of the managers in HQ IT are nice people but if they were in a similar job function at another company or even if they were on site at a client engagement serving the role they have at HQ, they will be found out and be terminated in a matter of days. It's not their fault they have had no mentorship, no training, and no experience to do what they are doing. Sad part is that there are people in the company that could do a great job in those roles. Expense reimbursement is terrible. Sure you get paid quick but you are forced to share a room with someone you don't know, mileage reimbursement is a joke, your manager pressures you to save money on expenses, spend to much and get berated.
