Pros
- You will be exposed to interesting engineering problems. Some of them can be solved through code, others by operational actions, or a mix of both. - Development teams are small enough to make an impact and to propose new and cool solutions. - They try to keep the technological stack as new as possible. - If you're a self learner and a curious person, this is the place to be. You can work on your own to improve processes and fix things and make yourself a name in the Company. - Some managers are more objective focused, which means they don't bothered you as long as you delivery. Sometimes, this can give you free time that can be spent in personal improvement.
Cons
- The company's clients are Governments. In many situations, this forces the company to work under a Projects scheme, where the deadlines are immovable and the quantity of work is crazy. - You'll be forced to work extra hours. Those hours are not paid. Sometimes, they throw you a bone by giving you a couple of days off or a small bonus, but this is very rare. - The company's niche is small (as I said before, Governments), that pays good, but it is hard to gain in it (in order to win a project, the goverment needs to do a public bidding and your solution must be the winner, in terms of costs, requirements and so on). If the company is in a slump, they will start reducing costs and lay offs will be at order of the day. - There is no career path at all. Once you're are inside, and you have a role assigned to you, there is no clear path on how to progress in the company. They say that they do "have a career path", but the requirements to move from one level to another are subjective or non-existent. - There is no mentoring ... everything that you learn will be on your own. - In some situations, technical improvements are pushed by lower levels of the company. - Depending on which office you're hired, your salary will vary a lot. It's is very disappointing to discover that other engineer that works with you, doing the same tasks, but it's located in other country, gains twice or more than you. It's even worst to discover that he have a role lower than yours or he's located in the same country, but for the sake of being hired, they offer him more money than you. - They care about capture talent but they forget how keep it.