Pros
I worked across two different roles during my time with the company (almost 2 years total). This review is primarily of the company and work environment. Work Environment: - Large company with wide variety of disciplines offers the potential to learn breadth - Access to engineering tools and subject matter experts Compensation: - Consulting typically has high starting salary - Bonuses offered for achieving professional certifications - Back Pay given when leaving for personal time off not taken - Occasional opportunities to earn overtime (straight time, not 1.5x or 2x pay) Career Growth: - In depth learning website (particularly in finance and project management principles) - Subsidized access to various professional organizations General Notes: I was given very little work, despite having set up meetings with various members of mid-level leadership to gain work. After about 6 months I was placed in the subway on night shift performing inspections. This was meant to be temporary (although not related to my role) and ended up in being over a year - ending because of health problems due to the environment. When brought back on to day work, lack of work persisted. I was able to work on a separate team part time which helped provide more workload. Work experience will greatly depend on your team and its leadership. I wasted two years of my life (no significant skill or knowledge growth).
Cons
Work Environment: - People either have too much work or not enough - Unwillingness/inability to delegate some work due to the need to charge time to specific projects and having to be approved by the project manager - Some interaction outside primary discipline, however generally quite limited - Generally very little effective communication - Very few people seem to enjoy their job, this shows in interactions and performance Compensation: - Salary increase and bonuses influenced by performance against self-set goals (depending on nature of work, this can limit ability to set effective goals beyond "supporting 'X' project") - No salary increase over 2 years (not even to match inflation), apparently this is typical according to co-workers - Tied to chargeable hours to a project/client, however often limited/capped at 40 hrs per week Career Growth: - Little opportunity for growth (need for experience with several skills to move up, but little to no opportunity to gain needed skill sets, or more senior members rarely leave limiting opportunities for younger cohort) - Depending on team/role (i.e. if small or niche) there is little to no mentorship or support available