Pros
- Co-workers are knowledgeable and friendly - Have some interesting things in their tech stack
Cons
When you sign the contract to start you lock yourself in for a year, which is not from the day you start but from when you end the bootcamp. When you end the bootcamp is determined by when you get a client, if you get done quick it'll be about 2 - 3 months otherwise it could be more than that. Should you leave before the year is up you have to pay $7-8k to break your contract. The 7-8k is broken down to ~3-4k for your Mulesoft cert and ~3-4k for their in house bootcamp, which consists of things you could readily learn elsewhere. With regards to Mulesoft, if you come from or are looking for/used to a traditional software role this is probably not your cup of tea. Despite one of the comments saying that Mule is a Java based framework which is technically true, the software itself is written in Java, you do no Java compared to something like Spring. Instead it's basically a platform wherein you can drag and drop some shape which is basically a fleshed out function e.g. connecting to an endpoint or database. At the end of this drag and drop process you have basically a whole bunch of boxes and shapes which you need to either click again to see what it was/is OR should you be inclined to read code, you can go through a bunch of needlessly confusing and verbose XML. It takes less time to set up and get started using something like Spring Boot than Mule. If you want to look it up there's plenty of videos that you can watch to know what you're getting into. There is a bootcamp that you must go through when you first join which consists of some Java and a Mule course. If you like regular coding, enjoy the 2~ months of it, that's all you'll see. A lot of the bootcamp is generally watch videos and figuring it out on your own, which is more of self-learning and why pay for "training" when you're not being trained. After the bootcamp you ideally should be placed with a client, but if you can't get one or it takes a while you'll be doing some internal projects and/or something for certifications. The work that you do for the client may or may not be Mule, it in fact might be just some support work. If it is support work then by the time you get on another client using Mule you'll be less familiar which is the worst case if you've got an interview with another client. Moving on to the work culture, after a while it becomes apparent who the "favorites" are. If you're not one, it might feel like you're being micro-managed or someone is staring over your shoulder the entire time. This can feel pretty nerve wracking at times, to clarify, it doesn't feel like that from co-workers but more from management. There is a WFH policy after you've been there for a year(from the end of bootcamp), but that seems to be pretty iffy and dependent on if you're in good standing which is counter to what was stated in the contract. The pay is not the best considering if you were to look at other Mulesoft jobs, the salary is pretty high. The location is in West Virginia, which if you're from a city it'll feel VERY empty, but it also justifies the lower salary that you get. In my tenure at MS3 I've seen at least 10 people quit, some who have quit for some of the reason stated above. Overall MS3 is something to be considered if you have few options or if you're want to see what Mule is about, but if you want a traditional coding position or a decent work environment you may want to look somewhere else.
