Growing Pains .. Potential for an amazing company lost in execution.
Pros
Great work/life balance. Office clears out at 530. Company tends to hire people out of college (pro if you're out of college). Lots of heavy drinking with peers. Do not have to work hard/ stay late/ think outside of the box. Compensation is very tight, and recognition does not sync with intellectual capital, or contribution. Will look great on a resume for a few years of experience, or while you find another role with a client. After you've been there for a bit, many come in late, lie about appointments in calendar, or work from home. If you can get through the interview process, and seem to fit in with the culture, very easy to make a few key contacts, pretend you are an asset, and never have to really work. Especially when you can choose the people who peer review you.
Cons
Two main downfalls I see. 1) Very cliquey, non-flat/communicative, to the point of hurting business. 2) The Peter Principle, people are promoted to their level of incompetence. Managers largely are promoted who were decent at their old role, and with the company the longest. Since the company grew rapidly over the past, you see this many places. Leaving managers who can't really manage, think, or inspire. A huge determent to the employees below them, and company as a whole. To secure (or justify) their job, they create processes that are not the most efficient, and they are basically there to just barely manage personal relationships. At the worst, they are not recognizing the talent below them. This exacerbates the non communicative problem. This has gone on for so long because of the practice of hiring people out of school, no one questions. All of the best talent is hired away, left with the worst and least motivated.
