DO NOT FALL FOR THE GLASSDOOR/RECRUITING HYPE! STAFF AUG BODY SHOP AT ITS FINEST.
Pros
Opportunity to work with some pretty sharp consultants. There are office events however if you are a billable consultant, you won't have time to participate. Otherwise, your client owns you pretty much.
Cons
Slalom employs a large team of recruiters, all of whom blast social media with a lot of hype about company culture and the "awesomeness" of the company. I was approached by a recruiter on LinkedIn to have an initial "conversation" to be a part of their Technology Practice. Pretty standard experience questions, nothing technical. Additional "conversations" took place and I go on to meet other members of the team and then eventually the Practice Area Director to assess if I am a "fit" for the team and the culture. Slalom makes me an offer which in retrospect, I regretfully accept. The company was sold to me as being generally "awesome" and NO STAFF AUG. It can't be that bad right? Onto my first "local" client (conveniently 40+ miles away). In this role, I was essentially thrown/augmented onto an already failing project which was already a few weeks over deadline (margins cut, etc). After a few weeks of working in this sweatshop like a good little sheep, project is finally completed however at the expense of the quality of the work and deployment. From what I've heard it's commonplace here for projects to be underestimated which results in extremely stressful deliverables for the technical resources actually working on the projects. What a great way to start you new career at Slalom! It gets better.... Onto my next project. For this one, I was essentially staffed (augmented) to build an application using technologies that I had no experience ever using (or ever claimed to have the experience) with no ramp up time or training. Long story short, I got out of the project early and they found some other sheep to do the job. At this point, I realize that staff aug is a recurring theme across all projects from what I've seen, with work being assigned to resources with very little regard to their skill sets (despite what the recruiter will tell you how Slalom does not staff augment, it's very much a body shop). Truly not much learning on the job and opportunities to do so are scarce due to the aggressive deadlines around which all projects are sold. Slalom is a small shop with limited resources, so you will find that all project deliverables are "urgent". It can't all be bad though right? I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it looks like an exit sign! This is a life lesson. If something sounds too good to be true it absolutely is. I know when to cut my losses and only a few months in and I am headed for the exit. Slalom has taken from me months of my life which I will never get back. Never again.
