Opportunities to learn and grow, Drawbacks of a small firm
Pros
-Staff & Senior level engineers are willing to help you out with issues when time permits -Director and President level management are very approachable with issues and concerns -Constant learning as new projects come in and out in 6-month to 2-year-long cycles -Company utilizes your strengths as a part of the team to find where you best fit in projects -You have some freedom to define your schedule around the regular workday (depending on direct supervisor) -Company has decent compensation and benefits
Cons
-Onboarding was not helpful in bringing up to speed on expected job duties such as proposal writing -Although people are willing to help out, engineers tend to have too heavy of a workload to give significant help in areas lacking from onboarding and training -SBIR system requires senior level work for innovative design work and mentoring but is restrictive in the effort senior level engineers can put in , making them spread thin over many projects to not suck funds from one -Some VP level project management is lacking in availability and proximity to workers which makes it difficult for some projects to remain coordinated
