Durham Constabulary Reviews

You start the job eager and willing to make an impact then quickly realize your mistake when everyone around you (especially middle management and above in IT) are more concerned with looking busy than actually being productive. The "work" is incredibly tedious, uninspiring and overly complicated. A cross between shark-like Microsoft product vendors, a clueless software management function and a woefully inexperienced development team, created a monster of a tech stack that anyone in their right mind would run a mile from. Incidentally, this god-awful ball of technology is not even mentioned during the interview process (for good reason too). Btw, the interview is a breeze. Say the right things and look smart enough and you're in. Those interviewing you have a very limited software knowledge. They are stuck with the "tech stack" cos the "architects" of this monumental waste of time, effort and tax payers money, have long since departed, leaving the poor saps left in a permanent state of fire fighting. They also struggle to subcontract this work to consultancies, cos as much as everyone knows the company is a cash cow, it really isn't worth their while taking this on. It has and will remain this way for many years as the incumbent development function do not have the technical expertise or willingness (due to fear of the unknown) to create a better solution. This is driven by a culture of fear. The crux of the issue is no one has the guts to step up and do the right thing for fear of reprisals. Most middle to senior management after-all, have a background in the police and are used to being told what to do. Going against the grain will see your career literally halted in its tracks. Police forces are run more like dictatorships (with a never ending source of funding ...thanks tax payers) than private limited companies (who don't take too kindly to poor returns on investments) "Innovation" is bounded about in most meetings but never realized. As soon as you take the initiative to improve anything in someway, you are immediately met with obstacles. It's easy to make improvements because it's so bad BUT it's always difficult to enact change because you then shine a light on the incompetence of the leadership, from middle management right to the top. Outside of development, most processes are incredibly outdated and clunky but it "works" and to change it would mean someone has to deviate from what they're comfortable with......this would literally cause an implosion in the building. In closing, if you want a "job" that will afford you a nice pension with very little stress, fill your boots. If you care about your career in software development and actually making a change, don't bother. It really is the place where software dreams and aspirations go to die.

Management and team leaders only there to make them selves look good Passive aggressive bullying with threats of disciplinary action for the smallest thing Management complained when people didn’t stay over their contracted hours No onboarding, new starters thrown into the deep-end with no support.