Pros
My most vivid memories of Xcel will always be of the hugely intelligence, fun people I worked with for more than 20 years. I was given slow, but steady advancement during the time I worked there, and there was usually an adequate incentive bonus (only during the time I was a full employee anyway!), and usually there were adequate benefits. For the most part, the workplace was laid back and easy, and the workforce was usually diverse and fun to be a part of. As a card-carrying geek, I might have stood out from some of my crowd sometimes, but I was never led to believe that it was in a bad way. People accepted me into their groups simply for my contribution to our community's success. Those of us in Minneapolis (2013 Summer) know what we went through with the worst weather assault on our grid ever, and we know what this colossal dinosaur or a company was able to mobilize and accomplish over the course of 3-4 days. When you work at the company through a disaster like that, and you accomplish what Xcel accomplished in less than a week, you really feel like you're doing God's work.
Cons
* Not all Xcel work environments are created equal. The downtown Minneapolis headquarters is somnolent and stifling. You never know when you might share the elevator with a CEO, and you know he'll never speak to you. The service centers, however, have a much more laid back, democratic air about them. * All of IT should be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. There has been more than a decade of neglect therein, and nothing would be better for it than a good torch. * Like so many enterprises, the relationship between IT and the Business must be rebuilt anew. There are so few formal ties between those two entities, it is no wonder they seldom complement each other these days. * Xcel Energy is beholden to jurisdictions that include cities, towns, eight states, and the federal government. It's hard to turn around in that environment without bumping into some government geek or other that wants to tell you what to do. Not all geeks are created equal either. Some folks in the government can be really annoying. On the other hand, as we discovered (Mpls 2013 Summer), some folks in your local utility can really get you out of a jam in a hurry. * If you throw yourself into this mix, make sure you have a champion: someone who knows what you do, values it, and can explain to others what you are worth. Without that you will go nowhere!
