Pros
• My experience with REI has been very rewarding. Being an open source guy I was looking for a company where can I really help make an impact. I definitely think I have joined the right place. • They are the pioneers in introducing open source technology in federal government. The work we did on many high traffic, high visibility Government websites have been replicated across the globe and in state government sites as well. • I get a lot of job satisfaction here - when millions of users access web sites you built, and when you can see you are making a real impact on how the government runs, it gives a very creative satisfaction to me as a developer and forces me to develop even more great products! • Proud to say that my team in REI developed and operates 3 of the top 10 Open Government Web Sites. These are Data.gov, IT Dashboard and USAspending.gov (Per Information week, 2012 Jan - http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/top-10-open-government-websites/232500442) • My team has many highly energetic and enthusiastic folks who have real out of box thinking and innovation in their blood. Some of the team-members are fantastic and I have so much fun working with them.
Cons
• Due to Customer budgets, constraints, timelines etc. our designs, recommendations, ideas that leverage the latest tools sometimes cannot become a reality – and that constricts leveraging all potential… • I think better streamlining and structuring of priorities will definitely help. • REI needs to be more media savvy because I don’t see any news article about the great projects they have done.