Great experience for college grads, but some things do need to change.
Pros
I worked here for a little over 5 years (first as a business analyst and then as a consultant) and overall had a positive experience. This is a place where you will learn so much and you will continue to amaze yourself with your inner strength and ability to stay sane in many a high-pressure situation. PCG continues to grow at an insane rate and purposely lags in hiring, which gives entry-level staff an opportunity to develop a solid skill set across many operational areas - so, if you are not a fan of the 'sink-or-swim' approach, then you should not look here. I found that, in a very short time, I was either a major contributor to, or essentially managed, several projects. I really appreciated that, if I worked hard, I could forge my own path and I was on a team where that was accepted and encouraged. I also cannot say enough about the teams with which I worked. I was very fortunate to work with people who shared my work ethic and were able to provide support to each other when the going got tough. I was also lucky enough to benefit from the company's MBA program. While working full-time and taking 2-3 classes per semester for 18 months was extremely challenging, I benefited greatly from meeting/networking with my PCG cohort and receiving, essentially, a free MBA from Clark University. Sure, there are some serious issues that the firm must eventually address, especially in terms of its substandard benefits, attitude towards entry-level staff (who do a majority of the work) and its unwillingness to recognize the need to invest in technology, but for an entry-level job, this is a great place to learn about and constantly challenge yourself. I was given opportunities that most people would not get so soon after graduating college and I learned and honed a lot of skills which will continue to serve me in the rest of my professional life.
Cons
Of course, every organization has its share of strengths and weaknesses. I found that my pay and benefits were sub-par compared to similar firms, especially since I felt that there was very little work-life balance. There was an expectation to put in long hours, which is not unique to PCG; however, it is not for everyone and I honestly got to a point where I started burning out from the constant stress. I will never forget being told that 'if you don't wake up stressed, then there's something wrong'. I got to a point where I finally realized how absurd that statement was. I do believe that the firm as a whole does not feel the need to retain consulting staff - I have heard of several instances where upper management really did not understand/value the immense contributions of consulting staff. There is definitely a mentality that business analysts (and even consultants to some degree) are easily replaceable. And unfortunately, because PCG only seems to hire when the need is absolutely dire, offices hire at random times and do not have the time to thoroughly screen candidates. The firm's unwillingness to understand how important its technology infrastructure is continues to baffle me. Upper management continues to think that 'PCG is not a tech company', which is highly misguided. There were weekly email/network outages and I will never forget losing almost 4 years of data and emails when our local server failed and no backup had ever been run because our office was 'not on the list'. In this day and age, that kind of failure is completely unacceptable. I never understood why the firm refused to hire more developers (many were hired on a contracted basis) - I remember the anguish of losing key developers because they no longer wanted to work on a contractual basis (which is completely reasonable). The firm also insists on using outdated and antiquated software/code, which won't help anyone in the long run.
