Pros
* Super-talented and friendly co-workers. * Excellent cultural diversity. * Opportunity to work with and learn a lot of different technologies in a short period of time. * Unlike many firms, middle management at Valtech (i.e., the practice leads) are themselves senior-level technologists, not just professional managers. They're very willing to listen and offer help whenever needed. In this regard, Valtech ranks #1 among the places I've worked.
Cons
* Employment at Valtech is very precarious. As other reviewers have noted, clients run the show and it's not uncommon (even if you are full-time) to be released if your project finishes and there's a lull in new work. Take special caution if you are considering joining Valtech US as an immigrant: Valtech has demonstrated that it will not hesitate to cut you loose to save a buck, even if it creates a residency crisis for you. * The NYC office is basically a stylized boiler room, which will be sold to you as chic and trendy. Massively open-plan, with zero privacy, it can be very hard to focus and concentrate -- and God help you if you need to take a client call and are unable to secure one of the limited number of conference rooms. Upper management constantly plies a tone-deaf narrative along the lines of "we all come together here and magic happens", although the reality is much bleaker. * No or minimal opportunity for things like trainings or conferences, at least on the technical side. * The ratio of genuinely interesting & innovative projects to boring, grind-house projects is quite low. Even if you start out on a cool project, chances are before long you'll segue into body-shop land. * Highly asymmetrical risk/reward profile. Upper management seems to expect way more loyalty and dedication than they show to their staff. Although not terrible, compensation is average at best: Average pay, average benefits, average holidays, and -- as other reviewers have noted -- zero bonuses. Even if you work yourself to the bone for Valtech, as the highly-talented staff often does, your best outcome is that you _won't_ get laid off. Despite all this, upper management continues to advance a vision that, somehow, Valtech will become #1.
