Great Opportunities to Grow and Learn with a Startup Vibe
Pros
Pros (based on almost 4 years with the company): 1. AMAZING BENEFITS PACKAGES (My friends were quite envious of my health care plan and 401K. It is rare that you experience such a great benefits package at a small company. The staff each year evaluated the plan in order to keep rates low for the employees, and to keep benefits strong. They did everything within their power to make sure it was a good plan. 2. LEARNING POTENTIAL (If you are a go-getter and passionate about expanding your tool set, the company will pay for you to go to professional and technical training courses that are related to the work you do and the work you want to do to get the job done for the client.) 3. DIRECT ACCESS TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT (You can speak with and interact with the CEO, Senior Program Managers, and Operations/HR in a moment. Because of the company's size and the fact that the CEO is quite invested in making the ITCON machine run, you have the opportunity to provide ideas to, and collaborate with the CEO on projects. This in and of itself is extremely rare and really valuable. If you have a passion for something, the CEO will see to it that you use those skills and gain the experience. This gives you the opportunity to build your resume, not only in your main role, but in side roles you may want to expand.) 4. SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT (While I worked there, ITCON provided great monthly happy hours for employees to get to know each other. The catered summer picnic and holiday parties were a great time where people could bring their families and friends. They provided free tea and coffee to the employees, as well as plates and plastic silverware for lunch.) 5. GREAT CLIENTS (The contracts they win have been with great agencies, and offices. It was a joy to work for such fun and passionate people.)
Cons
1. INTENSE WORK ENVIRONMENT (The amount of work coming through the pipeline and quick turn around and deadlines are not for the faint of heart. But there's a lot of opportunity to build your resume. Management has recognized when work loads are high and deadlines are piling up and have compensated employees who worked extra hours or worked on additional tasking either in end of year bonuses, or in annual review salary raises.) 2. LACKED STRUCTURED PROCESSES (The company recognized that many processes lacked clear structure, for example, when I joined there was a not a clear onboarding process or training program to learn the ropes regarding ITCON company processes or business processes related to client-work. If asked how someone learned something, they would say it was 'on-the-job training'. Nowadays the company has worked to improve process standards, and they continue to improve. I bring this up because some people who were not flexible or able to follow quick on-the-job training became frustrated and overwhelmed. Self-teaching skills in some roles is vital; this is a common challenge in most new work environments.)
