So much potential, sabotaged by ignorance and incompetence.
Pros
For the most part the people were nice. There are some very talented folks that work at Farnsworth, and they will support most of your desires for professional development, and will pay the associated fees that go along with certifications, registrations, exams, etc. The office was nice, you get as much free coffee as you want, and get lunch bought for you frequently for lunch and learns. The health insurance and other benefits were pretty decent.
Cons
There are quite a few cons, unfortunately. First and foremost, the pay is low compared to industry standard. I negotiated a little higher salary than the initial offer, but ultimately accepted because I was sold a good line and I thought there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bill of goods. Not a single promise that was made to me was kept. From project types that I would be working on, massively underpaid bonuses, and career advancement opportunities that never materialized, everything I was told when interviewing turned out to be false. Second, the politics are out of control. You have grown men in leadership positions that act like children, but because they are stockholders, have mid level staff up to Senior Project Managers acting like mindless sycophants in a high school clique who eat up every word as if it were gospel. If you aren't a part of that clique, you aren't allowed to have an opinion, and if you dare challenge one of the many ignorant opinions of the ego-maniacal primadonna who is supposed to be setting the example to follow, you are effectively shunned and will get blackballed from any project that has even a minor degree of appeal to it. Third, fees. Wow...just...wow. I can see why Farnsworth gets projects...they will write agreements for 2% of total construction cost, which INCLUDES consultant fees, and consider it a "good fee". Then, when the project inevitably goes over budget, the blame is placed on production staff who have been working 60 hour weeks and weekends trying to hit the ridiculous schedules that are set. Not to mention, the product that goes to permit and to construction is garbage, and you spend more time answering RFI's in CA than you did producing the CD's in the first place because you didn't have time to put together a quality set. Last (well, I'm calling it last because I'm tired of writing), the adoption of technology and level of competence within the company is pathetic. For a multidisciplinary firm trying to play with the big firms (unsuccessfully), they should at least TRY to get some level of standardization into effect. Unfortunately they don't want to budget anything for training, and upper management is so out of touch with current technology trends that they still hold on to software that had it's heyday 20-30 years ago, and make zero effort to get with the times and learn something new.
