ICF reviews

No clear direction on assignments. Ask a million questions to ensure you do not follow through with an assignment incorrectly. There is a certain "culture" there and if you do not fit in or if you are seen as a weak link, you are theoretically dismissed as someone who cannot contribute or labeled negatively.

There is a huge difference in culture between the "elite few" who work in the corporate HQ and the front-line grunts working day to day on client sites. If you're full-time on a client site, you probably will be ignored by management except for a few perfunctory all-hands meetings where they talk about revenue and margins and other things meaningful to them and meaningless to you. This is a contracting company, so you are only valuable as long as you are billable. The company says it values its employees, who are after all its only asset of any value, but training and professional development is expected to be done in your "plus 40" time, and preferably without costing the company anything. There are some good managers who will push to get around this policy for their staff, but others aren't motivated to push through this to develop their people.