Pros
As a first job out of college, the responsibilities you get at APT are unparalleled. Within my first 6 months, I was interacting with clients directly and given opportunities to present during meetings, and within my first 2 years, I was able to start managing and mentoring junior teammates and leading teams. There's definitely a steep learning curve within the first year at APT and it can be challenging at times, but once you have a better understanding of the software and how to juggle multiple projects at once, you start to enjoy the job a lot more and feel more confident.
The benefits and compensation are hard to beat as well. The kitchen is always stocked with snacks, and there's free food most days including catered lunch every Wednesday. There's a game room and ping pong room, as well as two massage chairs for use. In terms of work flexibility, I've never had any issues working remote or leaving early on a given day if I have another commitment. When you take vacation as well, people respect your time off and don't try and reach you while you're out.
Working with a large number of fortune 500 companies across every industry out there provides the opportunity to get exposure to project you're interested in and learn more about industries you're passionate about. It does seem however that newer projects have skewed towards the financial services industry, so that's something to keep in mind.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about what makes the culture great: the people. As a company that mostly hires out of undergrad, the majority of folks are young and eager to learn. There's definitely a collaborative culture here, and APT tends to attract motivated people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done.
All in all, APT has been a great first job with many things going right.
Cons
Being staffed on multiple projects at once means there are some weeks that are spikier than others. Rollout projects can be more client relationship and support driven, as opposed to being cool analytic projects like pilots typically are. Being integrated within Mastercard leads to certain bureaucratic processes associated with a larger corporation.
