Supportive culture but limited visibility and opportunities
Pros
Overall the culture was pretty good. Colleagues were friendly, supportive and motivated with the work they're doing. Data Science community was quite engaged and everyone generally helps each other when they've got problems. People are quite responsive to feedback. I've previously worked in departments were little is done to change things but the team I was working in was very receptive to change and making an effort to improve things for everyone in mind.
Cons
Although the salary did improve whilst I was there, not being eligible for the digital allowance was part of the reason I left. The requirement to go into the office regularly felt a bit daft especially since digital teams are so spread out across the country so I was very often the only person in the office in my team (and sometimes in the broader digital programme). I do appreciate that's not the fault of the department completely but politics with the wider Civil Service though. SMT weren't very visible as well but that was compounded by the fact that teams were spread out. More often than not, opportunities would go down to consultancies or contractors instead of permanent staff which was a shame but I know there's been effort internally to change that.