The other 50% of the people in the department make for a considerably frustrating experience, either by being condescending, backbiting, obstinate, or untrusting. Sadly this is enough to really sour the experience entire experience of working in the department in spite of the 50% of the people I mentioned in the "Pros" section. There is a culture of finger pointing whenever something goes wrong, and criticizing other people's (or, everyone else's) code years after it was written, bad enough that most people grow accustomed to working with their dukes permanently put up and their hackles permanently raised.
Be prepared to spend some regular time on the phone in the call center taking orders from customers if you're salaried. Not just any customers, but the subset of customers who can't use the website to place their orders. It is an experience that is detested by everyone who undergoes it (most will agree that it's actually a lot worse than it sounds), but the company ownership stubbornly will not let it go. You will be called upon to work in the call center even more hours if business ever surges for whatever reason, and every year or two management manages to seriously muck up one of the hourly staffing processes, in which case you will likely get to work in the warehouse too.
There is a remarkably bad culture of sycophantism throughout the company. It starts at the top and causes some pretty substantial organizational problems that ripple throughout the company.
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt often motivate the technical decisions that wind up being made by non-technical people.
Very traditional attitude toward your butt keeping the seat warm for 40 hours a week. Your seat at work, not at home. Company leadership can't stand the thought of working remotely, even any small amount of time. Company is getting better at flexing your rigid schedule to a slightly different rigid schedule (1 hr earlier/later) if you provide a decent enough justification.
With a few exceptions, almost exactly the wrong people are selected for advancement.
As another reviewer noted, the company is largely about process, process, process. Standardize your strategic planning. Make all decisions systematically. Until the guy who owns the place gets a whim and just upends all your planning.
