Large enough to feel secure, but small enough to have camaraderie.
Pros
-This is a lateral company. Everyone is a peer, and because of that, everyone is keep to help each other to succeed (with a few exceptions). -Management seems to have a clear idea of where they are headed. Communication is constant, and while it clutters the inbox at times, it's better than being left in the dark. -Management is approachable. Most of us work remotely, so almost all communications is done by phone, text, or email. Managers seem to understand that with an engineer's fluctuating work schedules, they need to be available at odd hours, and they usually respond to requests quickly. The field employees really act as a cohesive network. If one person needs help, it's like activating a phone tree - someone will know someone who can help solve the problem. -Remote work means there is a lot of trust placed on the field employees. They don't micromanage us, and we are given enough leeway to get things done without a manager breathing down our necks. -Cyclical work. For many field engineers, the heavy outage seasons are balanced by the lighter peak seasons. But then again, sometimes they aren't. -Field engineers are salaried, which makes the slow seasons livable when we aren't on the road, putting in the hours. -Travel. For me, the constant travel and short notice is a plus, though it might not be for everyone. -Benefits are surprisingly robust. Teledoc is nice to have for when you're out on the road, and it's great for families too, if you have a sick kid and don't want to drag them to the doctor's office while they feel like crud. Eyecare covers yearly prescriptions and hardware instead of every two years, health care deductible is lower than competitive companies' plans, and there is a gym and fitness incentive.
Cons
-The training program could use some work. There's a tendency to throw new folks out to the wolves with the bare minimum amount of training, and that has the chance to negatively impact customer opinion of the company as a whole. -The migration from GE/Granite into FieldCore was rocky, payroll messed up a lot, and even though most of the speedbumps have been cleared, there are still regular system downtimes with timecards and other essential accounts required for our jobs. -The engineering support teams are sometimes slow to respond to emergency submissions from the field. -Managers try to help field folks keep a good work/life balance, but sometimes it simply doesn't work out. Short term jobs can and do turn into long term deployments, and while it is not constant, it happens often enough to be mentioned here. -Work/life balance can be a challenge for some, if they aren't in love with the field work lifestyle. It really is a love it or hate it sort of thing.
