Worst possible intro to public sector - Anonymous employee Sound Transit Employee Review

2.0
Jul 7, 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They have a benefits package that is almost European in quality/caliber.

Cons

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a right-wing/anti-government person in the slightest. HR seems to be the only functional department, which explains the benefits package, but otherwise the organization, from Dow Constantine downward, is an embarrassment to the people of Western Washington. Best I can tell, the majority of the employees are paycheck collectors, and the organization primarily functions as a money distribution agency, overpaying consultants that don't deliver quality design work (because they know no one at ST has the expertise to hold them accountable) and being coerced into exclusive contracts with King County on the operations/maintenance side of things. The department of ~200 people I was in couldn't even tell me what the purpose of the department was. There was literally zero sense of document control or file organization. Everyone who was supposed to be showing you the ropes had their Microsoft Teams lights showing red basically 95% of the time. No one ever talked about deadlines or deliverables, and meetings about workload were always word mincing with "I helped on this" or "I was involved in this". The word "involved" does a lot of heavy lifting at ST I noticed. No decisions regarding improvements or maintenance of facilities could ever be made because ST owns the system only on paper and subject to the quirks of King County Rail or King County Metro. ST is the rubber stamp for King County's rail system. The board's interventions in the planning of the Second Tunnel/West Seattle/Ballard expansion are blatantly corrupt and counter to the will of both planning experts and voters. Ditching the second International District rail hub for a station that provides no benefit other than to redevelop King County-owned parcels is a prime example of this. It demotivates the whole organization and encourages most of its people to dissociate from the vision of ST, thus most of the employees are literally paycheck collectors attending meetings that have no purpose. Again, I'm not an anti-government troglodyte, but ST is an exemplar of the dysfunction in Washington. I got out of the state in part because I didn't trust the safety of the light rail or any of the other infrastructure there.

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Pros

- Great people and culture - easy to ask for support

Cons

- Easy to get siloed on your project

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2.0
Jun 11, 2026
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CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The mission is what drives the work; there are a lot of people excited to get mass transportation to many people in the region. Salary is good when compared to other agencies, but internally, it is a mess and not equitable. Good opportunities for growth if you play your cards well.

Cons

Lots of bureaucracy. Salary discrepancy among peers, some who do less than you make way more than you. Never-ending leadership turnover that creates constant changes and instability among teams. Leadership decisions that do not make sense and create a negative impact on smaller teams. Some ERGs had more flexibility in their activities than others, and this was noticeable to the other ERGs. I saw 5-6 CEO/Acting CEOs during my 10-year period... which by itself says a lot. Before leaving, there was talk that folks would be asked to come to the office 3 times a week, but there is no space for everyone. The pandemic showed that we could all work remotely, unsure of the need for the push for the min 3 days in the office when the minimum required space is not even there.

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