Office conditions were awful as far as I was concerned. Especially when they ship you off-campus into Harlem into what's basically a warehouse with long shared desks (no privacy and dangerous location across from train tracks, a gas station, and intersection). Not to mention the office is full of older folks who cough up phlegm and mucous all day. Gross. Good luck staying healthy. Likely in violation of several building codes (old dusty below-waist windows, giant lead door that swings open at any moment, could easily injure you). Meeting room was tiny and windowless, with no working equipment. Had to huddle around a tiny laptop in group meetings. Elevator service was shut down often as well, sometimes out of spite from the building workers. Co-workers routinely came into work sick as a dog. In fact, I was assigned to a desk where the ceiling had collapsed onto it. Then in the middle of the day, workers jack-hammered the roof directly above my head. I was told in an email, that work was going on that day and it "wouldn't be very noisy." Even further, I was told it wasn't "technically" a jackhammer, but a different type of tool. Great. The work culture is a game of who can refuse to do work for the longest and continue to make new excuses every week. I was amused by this for about a day. It slowly became very depressing. My colleagues played this excuse-as-to-why-they-haven't-been-able-to-work game over and over and over every single week, without fail. It was enough to drive you completely insane. Eventually I just quit for my mental and physical health. If you work here, and want to learn new stuff, you can, but only to a certain point. Everyone is afraid of the real cutting-edge technology and it's seen as impossible to understand by these dinosaurs, which basically leaves you fully screwed once you leave if you try to get into the private sector. Co-workers were abusive and everything is extremely political and based on words in emails, not actions. If you're a master manipulator you might do well here. New management constantly, and hired from consulting firms. They also force you to complete the windowless basement brainwashing that is ITIL. If you point out the toxic culture to HR you will find yourself deeper and deeper into an inescapable position, because everything is based on words and no one wants to lose their job. This place may have ruined my career, to be quite honest.
