Ad Astra Information Systems Reviews

Although this business has been around for more than 20 years, it feels like a frantic, disorganized start-up. You often wonder how they've stayed in business this long. They're always scrambling for money and have no idea how to grow. The husband-and-wife owners still have their hands in all dealings, and the sense is that if Tom and Jackie decide they don't like you (could be for seemingly moralistic reasons), then you're out. No questions asked. There is an overt Christian vibe here ( in-house pastor visits every week ). No HR policies to stop these inappropriate workplace things. There is a small group of people who have been here since almost the beginning, and they see themselves as the true Astra folks. They can be unfriendly and unprofessional and slack off because they are too comfortable in their job security.

As others have noted, the culture is still pretty much in start-up mode, which means that internal standards and documentation are pretty much non-existent. Project direction is still subject to change at a moment's notice, and there are many half-completed systems and partially implemented features throughout the released product. Day-to-day focus is usually on implementing the newest shiny, or on fixing whatever crisis has shown up due to the tangled code base. Tech debt is pretty extensive here. This company doesn't really seem to invest much in its employees. They do have "leadership seminars" for their management-level people, but I don't think training for anyone else was ever mentioned as an option. Similarly, while they are growing their numbers right now, all upward mobility seems to be confined to the core group others have described. The gap is made up with new hires; which means for any non-core employee, the most you can do to advance your career within the company is a lateral shift to entry level in another department. Pay and benefits have been described by the company president as "in line with industry standards". While not much of a con by itself, I think this emphasizes the lack of investment this company has in its people - they'll do enough that they don't really lose many employees, but they don't really work to attract and retain the best people, or to help their people become the best.