- a Sales company as opposed to a software/product company, even though they try to bill themselves as "the product development company." Or maybe it's "product and service advantage" now, I forget, as they keep trying to rebrand every year instead of staying consistent with one message.
- there's Sales, and there's everyone else
- long hours, including late nights and weekends, especially at quarter ends, for which there isn't any additional consideration, acknowledgement, or compensation; you will never be able to take off Christmases, New Years, and July 4ths while all your friends and family do, and you get no credit for this either (might even be against Fair Labor Standards Act, not sure...). Forget about traveling anywhere during this time or attending weddings (even if its your own) or the like. In fact, even though you get 4.5 weeks of PTO, forget about taking any time off 3 weeks before and after quarter end - so basically you cant take off time for several months of the year. You might even be asked to come in on company specified holidays without any consideration.
- managers who have been in the same role for years (despite their peer co-workers advancing to SVP levels and above who started at the same time/level as them) who think they are doing gods work but are really just doing the work that no one else wants to do; managers that do not grasp the big picture outside of the microcosm world their dept is in; low potential, high performance managers who are more akin to "Doers" as opposed to strategic "Thinkers" which probably explains why they failed to advance when peers who started at the same time at them are now running the company - they get the job done, but dont have any potential to lead or be the next face of PTC which is why they dont get promoted
- Be prepared to "clean up" after the sales reps by staying later and coming in earlier (while getting no additional credit for your time or effort) and work much longer than said reps without any consideration or appreciation by management or Sales themselves; you are like the waterboy on the football team that no one respects and does all the work no one else wants to do
- management that is too focused on micromanaging the group as opposed to elevating and developing the group to attain higher levels of achievement; very reactive culture as opposed to a proactive culture (e.g. email comes in from senior management, direct-line managers start freaking out instead of proactively dealing with the request and how to avoid in the future)
- managers more interested in reading People magazine when they should be reading publications like the WSJ (they would likely not know what that acronym stands for); they are clueless/uninformed/uninterested about what's happening around in the rest of the world or industry and how that relates to the company if it does not involve something they already directly do (again, another reason why they are probably not promoted, as their role in the company isnt that significant since they dont get the promotions others get)
- managers who need to know what you are doing at any given moment and will ask to share your calendar, notice when you are not signed into Communicator, will ask you what you talked about with Jimmy when he called or stepped by your cube, and will ask for updates every few hours or call you to ask what you are working on instead of trusting the group to perform to the high standard you hired them for - this is a difference between a leader and a manager
- generally inexperienced managers who need more training with employee interactions
- recently lots of turnover at higher levels in Sales org
