Technical capability too spread out accross the world
Pros
Had opportunity to work on international projects and work with different cultures. I was based in Asia, but also had opportunity to be seconded to South Africa. I moved very quickly into roles of high responsibility by stepping up. Worked with some great people and great partners in SA and in Asia, but they move on quickly.
Cons
For a company of 4000 people, the technical capabilities are spread too widely accross the 170 offices. Each office is mostly small 10 to 200ppl. So when trying to promote new service areas in an office, we need to rely on international support often which is difficult as there is minimal incentive for them to support closely due to different reporting lines, language and cultural differences as well as time zone differences. This leads to poor project delivery and stressful project situations. However good experienced partners can mitigate these situations but they are ffew and far between at this company. Working in asia there is typically poor work life balance. Hence leaving the region and returning home. An issue possibilily only in my office, but junior staff moved too quickly into PM role, without having good fundamental experience and time to learn from good project managers and technical managers. This is due to insufficient resourcing and capability of existing management staff. Los of staff turn over and changes in management team.
