High workload, friendly atmosphere, low rewards.
Pros
Started out great. Somewhat relaxed environment, they don't really care what you're doing as long as you're getting work done. This makes for slow days being really enjoyable. Social media and other SFW entertainment while it's slow or even having it in the background while you work is great. - Decent benefits - Bi-annual company-wide parties are pretty fun. - Good amount of PTO, Paternity/Maternity leave is good. - Really friendly atmosphere. Most of the technicians that work there are all really nice and you develop a rather good bond with them. - Decent starting pay. - In-depth training to make sure you know everything you need to know about the software you're going to support. - Flexible schedule. They're usually willing to work around your personal or school schedule. - Work/life balance is great until it's busy. - Doesn't really feel like a call center. Lots of cubicles but you don't really feel isolated from your neighbors. - Food trucks every weekday make for convenient lunch trips. - Great place to gain some more technical knowledge and have decent pay as a starting job. - Information about product updates are usually relayed to technicians well in advance and weekly assignments help ensure the technicians are prepared to accurate support.
Cons
A few months ago the best manager in Support left the company. Oddly enough, everything has gone downhill ever since. When I started I would recommend this job to anyone. Now, not so much. - About a dozen different products you're expected to support, some of which the company has ended support for but you're still expected to support it anyway. This makes it exceptionally difficult to support software that most people don't use anymore and that you don't get training for. - New QA manager has no relevant experience (but was hired anyway due to nepotism) and QA began grading harshly. Your scores from QA are your only relevant measure of performance (besides customer feedback and sheer number of interactions taken). Thus morale was at an all-time low when I left. - They don't value or reward going the extra mile. If you're off the "bad" radar you're the same as any other tech, even if you're going above and beyond. - The above includes not being held accountable for not acknowledging important posts and assignments (and when they're due) about upcoming updates. - Complaints will put you on management's radar. Even if they're valid and you offer constructive feedback, you're shot down and you become a target. - You get lulled into Support, convinced that it's a good way to get your foot in the door for advancement opportunities but they don't want to let you leave. Many who have been there for a long time have tried to advance to other places in the company but are denied the opportunity. - The sheer amount of work stacks up a lot of stress when it's busy. Hurricanes cause a huge influx of traffic. If you are taking chat interactions you take multiple at a time, which results in you casing hundreds of interactions per week (which you're expected to finish casing within a couple days). No incentive to take a large volume of interactions. - The company can't figure out how to release a software update that doesn't break something. It's extremely taxing as a support rep to try to "champion" the customer's concerns about the large number of defects.
