Pros
• The Troy area is very cheap to live in, and is fairly convenient to NYC, Boston and Montreal. The surrounding nature is beautiful, especially in Summer. • Low crunch. Hours are kept relatively normal. Only on some milestones can it get long, but even then it isn’t bad. Good for the work/life balance. • Great resume pad for as a starter position in the field.
Cons
• Below average wages for the industry. Ok benefits. • No government holidays given off except for Thanksgiving (!) and New Years Day. If you want any other holidays off, be prepared to spend PTO on it. Highly bureaucratic process to request even a half-day. My impression is that staff would rather hoard it, so no one will waste PTO on a stand-alone holiday. Hence, the Company gets more continuous work days out of the staff. Additionally, an employee’s PTO is used for any time taken — including sick days. • The Company keeps a very close eye on the staffs’ comings and goings. Roll is kept to make sure employees are at their desk at a designated hour. Again, requesting time off becomes an intrusive process. No matter how many hours you put in a week or if you are finished with your milestone, you must be there for a firm 8 hour period everyday. There is no reward for getting your work done efficiently and well. These policies create a very child-like environment. There is no trust in individual employees as adults and they are treated as such. • Be prepared to take out the trash (literally) and clean tables. There are janitorial services for the wastebaskets and bathrooms, but the staff is responsible for this portion. To save money? For team building? Not sure. But it's not the best time spent for employees. • You will feel no ownership on any project you work on. Your expertise will not be respected or utilized. You won’t be given a ‘good job’ for your ability or work ethic. You are warm body needed to churn out the bare minimum. You are seen as replaceable, no matter how pivotal you might be to the pipeline. Everything (no exaggeration) is micro-managed by the CEO, and all of those decisions are final — no matter the discipline. Production staff doesn’t learn individual employee’s strengths, so you just get shuffled to the open project, whether it’s the best fit or not. If you are a highly creative individual with a strong personality, you will become bored very quickly. • No upward mobility. Management positions have been pretty well set for years. There is no movement, no promotion, no added responsibility, no raises to speak of. • Office space. A potentially very cool office (remodeled ballroom with tall ceiling, windows, a lot of charm) is hemmed in on all sides by clutter. In my time there, more ’stuff’ was piling up everywhere. If you are sensitive to mess, this will drive you nuts after a while. Also, due the the arrangements of the desks in the open office layout, it appears they needed more left-handed desks to make the desks tie together visually. Company image more important than comfort of staff. Dated computers, chairs, equipment. Lack of updated tool support (tech is 5-10 years old). • Location. Troy, NY is indeed an up and coming town, but is years away from its full potential. It tends to be grimy and still has many sketchy parts. Also, if you are a novice to extremely cold weather, this could be a deal breaker. The Winters are VERY long and grey. Salt covers everything. Massive snowbanks. The last two years have been some of the coldest on record. The company expects you to get to the office, no matter the severity (even when the Governor announces a state of emergency, which occurred last Winter), which is extremely irresponsible from a management standpoint.