Really Good Company... for the right type of employee
Pros
There is an attitude of work quality and job ownership that I've never encountered anywhere else. From the CEO down, the company does not tolerate sub-standard work. There is an amazing level of talent in the organization. One thing to keep in mind with the company is that there are multiple divisions in the company, and each is in a different industry, and each has something of its own culture. Contrary to a lot of the reviews I read on here, I don't believe it is a sinking ship nor a horrible place to work. We do work a lot of hours on a regular basis, but guess what... that's the norm for engineering companies. I have friends working for IT and engineering companies all over the country, and they work the same kind of hours we do... and they deal with a lot worse issues than anything I've encountered at M.C. Dean. Over the past two years, I watched several people leave because of the workload, only to talk to them later and have them tell me it is just as bad everywhere else. Welcome to the profession. I've been on countless projects where we came in and cleaned up messes left behind by much bigger (and supposedly better) contractors. We are able to do that because the company owns its work. I've never encountered the same level of ownership at any other company. The company very much stresses a "Blue Collar" executive mentality, which may put some folks off but is a huge part of the culture. We have to build and deliver things here, not administer contracts like some of our competitors, and that means somebody has to get their hands dirty. The company tries to stress a culture where you have to earn your stripes. That doesn't always work for everyone, but the right candidates find it endearing. It is also a great place to be an engineer, regardless of gender. We have amazing engineers and technicians in pretty much every discipline out there. I am constantly amazed at the quality of our staff.
Cons
This is not the place to work if you want any of the following conditions: 1) You want a straight 40 hour work week all the time 2) You don't like being accountable when you screw something up 3) You don't like having to own something that may require you to stretch your capabilities (sometimes a lot) 4) You're okay with a sub-standard quality of work 5) You want immediate praise or promotion without paying some dues in the field 6) You don't want to get your hands or shoes dirty 7) You want your job security and compensation to be based on tenure, not performance Beyond that, there are a few things to consider: 1) Like any contractor, there are ebbs and flows in the work based on what we've won 2) We have very rigorous hiring standards so staffing tends to lag behind workload, which means folks often have to pull a lot of weight while staffing catches up 3) We are a company of 2500+ employees... that means there will be personnel issues. 4) The company has hit the point in its evolution where it is still making the transition from being a small to mid sized company into being a large company, and it's trying to do it without being part of an acquisition. There are still organizational and process issues to resolve. 5) Communication isn't always great
