Pros
Some interesting technology. Mostly pleasant people
Cons
Incredibly noisy environments in the Bristol and Walsall offices. Mostly open-plan and in Bristol even open-floor, in that noise from the floor below carried up. Crowded and distracting. One IT team was stationed right next to a call centre. Tech staff are still nevertheless supposed to concentrate and work, regardless. Working from home not permitted. You may be familiar with the managerial approach - you have average equipment, an appalling work environment, but as long as you are sitting on your seat, you are being managed. Very bureaucratic processes, and processes half-understood or half-implemented. Agile *couldn't* be adopted but there were still stand-ups that only the senior manager derived any benefit from - they were the bane of everyone else's day but nobody felt able to broach the subject. Project managers who didn't' understand technology and seemingly didn't understand project management either were let loose on designing 'processes'. An oddly hierarchical management structure meant decisions were taken, and pretty firm targets set, before the tech staff had any sight at all of the objectives. I was warned beforehand by an ex-colleague who'd lasted 11 months what the culture was like. I nevertheless risked it. I'm half-glad I did but I'm also relieved to have left within a short amount of time.
