ICF reviews

My first year at ICF was awesome. There were rare occasions where you had to work maybe 5 extra hours in a given week or work for a few hours on a weekend due to unexpected caveats in client projects that needed to be realigned with the correlating Grant application. Fortunately the team I was on for the first year was super organized. Then there was a restructuring in my division and I got moved to another team. The team lead was also a PM on many projects and was overwhelmed and often passed down management duties to other analysts which lead to severely fractured communication, poor project management, and consistent weeks of 50-60 hours of work per week. As an analyst II you do not get paid overtime so you can work 40 hours or 60 hours and still get paid the exact same. On top of that, the team lead was an expert gaslighter and would never take accountability for any of their pitfalls in client management or complete absence in the project except for first and last week leading up to application submission, at which point they would insert themselves in a manner that created complete inefficiency and chaos. I felt overworked, underappreciated, and micromanaged to the fullest. It's also a kiss up and kick down culture to the fullest.

Due to contract work dependent on other companies and on government, the reliability or confidence in keeping a job here is not good. Government shutdowns, budget approvals, and contract renegotiations all affect the work at this company multiple times a year. Unsettling environment to say the least.