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Charles River Analytics

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More engineering, less management - Software Engineer Charles River Analytics Employee Review

3.0
Apr 30, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The biggest pro (and also biggest con) is the fact that nearly everyone at CRA is either an engineer or a scientist. If you come from a place that was overburdened with management, you might appreciate having less of it around. If you enjoy a lot of freedom to self direct yourself (and can actually do it productively), you'll also do well here. Other pros include total health care coverage (you don't pay a dime towards it), a nice profit-sharing retirement plan of 15% (once you meet the tenure threshold), and as I was leaving, they were transitioning the company to an employee owned company, where stocks of the company are allotted to employees which reside in your retirement account. You accumulate these stocks and when you retire, you cash them out. They also provide snacks, though on a somewhat "limited" basis. (i.e. the snacks are usually gone by Friday and don't get restocked until Monday; contrast to Google, where they stock so many snacks, food and beverages that you couldn't possibly deplete them, even if you were being shady and taking stuff home.) The culture is also a bit "younger" than some other places. This results in a faster pace environment and newer technologies being adopted very quickly. CRA is very supportive in helping employees learn new things, attending conferences, buying books and other resources, etc.

Cons

The biggest pro is also the biggest con, as without management, you see the lack of team building and structure that would normally be in place. If you're the kind of person who thrives in structured environments, you may not do well at CRA. Another some-what con is the profit sharing retirement plan tenure requirement. It requires that you work there for 1 year before it becomes active, and then, the deposit is only made into your account at the end of your 2nd year. So that's basically two full years without any company contributions to your retirement account. If you can get past that, then the 15% is pretty nice (no employee contribution required).

Explore other reviews about Charles River Analytics

5.0
May 20, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

CRA is a great company to work with. The flexibility, and overall company culture is hard to find these days.

Cons

Management should reach check in with employees more often.

4.0
Jun 28, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

R&D environment with many small projects and ‘all hands on deck’ culture is good for gaining exposure to new technologies, building up a diverse skillset and learning about the business side of R&D. Opportunities for self-direction and ownership for enthusiastic proposal writers. Excellent opportunity for early career engineers/scientists hoping to build up a technical foundation.

Cons

As the company’s bread & butter, R&D proposal wins are King, and technical excellence is valued only insofar as it enables these wins. Funding opportunities are typically small and fragmented, rarely offering room for achieving the critical mass needed to truly create something of lasting value/impact. Good for research and learning, poor for developing products. The company has made unusual decisions regarding the administration of its IT infrastructure in a bid to mimic their expectation of how larger defense primes would operate, sacrificing development speed and thereby one of the few advantages a small business has over larger established players. The company has become highly adverse to taking on risk, and which is a major hurdle to growth.

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