A Phone Company Trying to Run an IT Services Firm Like An Old "Ma Bell" Division
Pros
The ability to work with an on a range of client systems ranging from Fortune 50 to SMB companies gives employees a chance to hone their skill sets and prepare themselves for career advancement in almost any setting. Great working atmosphere in terms of the co-workers. and almost all of them show an excellent esprit d'corp and dedication to solving customer issues in an effective and timely manner. You're left alone to do your job and not micromanaged. Pay is good if you negotiate a good rate going in the door. Benefits are outstanding.
Cons
In short, Verizon Terremark is a formerly rising cloud services company that has been bought by a phone company that wants to "play IT," albeit in the management style suitable for a regulated monopoly that faces next to no competition. As a phone company, Verizon's culture is mired in layer after layer of bureaucracy, where it is all too easy for too many workers to make their job into avoiding doing any work, and where employees are not treated as anything more than fungible assets that will be replaced the moment that a cheaper resource can be found...anywhere in the world. The emphasis at VZT is in the number of tickets you solve, and NOTHING else. It doesn't matter how difficult or involved the work on a given issue is, it counts as exactly one solve. The ten second, easy to complete work counts as much as a major project rollout. This creates an environment where hard work is not rewarded, because on the spreadsheets that the impersonal management uses to gauge its metrics, it simply cannot recognize who the good and the lower performing employees are. There is next to no room for advancement. You are a just another number and since directors and above will hardly take notice of you, don't count on it without heavy politicking. Workers who not the political types may as well get used to their current seat, as that is where they will remain during their tenure with this company. Management from the director level above are extremely disconnected from the regular workers, and so much so they may as well work for another company. Expect no support or effective leadership from them. Communications usually comes in the form of edicts via emails, with little explanation or rationale. In the past, managers would make grandiose promises, but as soon as those promises were made, they were forgotten, much less ever acted upon. Like most major corporations, there is an emphasis on "name brand" company certifications. In this division of VZ it is ITIL v3, and it is followed except where it is inconvenient or costs money. At the end of the day it turns out to be yet another IT management system that doesn't really cover how the company really works. And like most companies, count on executives reading about a new paradigm on a flight to somewhere and changing it as soon as the industry's wind shifts directions. Some of the technology used to operate and manage systems is straight out of the Aughts (2000-2010)...or before. These systems represent a major hurdle to actually getting work done, especially since much of it is past end of life from its manufacturer. If you work night shift, you will be cut off from any external training unless you want to take vacation, from most company meetings. The company does not provide very few on-site amenities, not even coffee -- for 24 hour support operations! When asked, employees were told that providing coffee "cost too much" and that they would need to bring it in from home. Compared to other similar companies that provide not only coffee, but quite often sodas and food, this company falls far short, especially when it comes to providing a work environment friendly to millennials.
