Great teams! - SR Civil/Structural Designer BIG RED DOG Employee Review

All. Great company, fun coworkers.

Pay and full-time hours would have been nice.

I started my career here and learned a ton from guys like Ricky, Matt, and Will. The place is the real deal if you want to work on the best projects in the City. You learn so much from the leaders so fast that the opportunity is what you make of it. I left at the start of 2017 because I was looking for a different opportunity with less stress and I wanted to travel a bit and enjoy my early 30's. I was a bit burnt out by the pace of the job. I honestly wish I had never left. I don't think there is another engineering firm in the country like this one. The place is very unique in terms of it's open environment (you have access to everything, including financials), young staff, fun culture, and location in East Austin. You can walk right up to the CEO's desk and start having a conversation with zero intimidation. The people are the best part - you're working with friends and not a bunch of crotchety old guys.

You need to be able to deal very well with demanding clients and unreasonable or just plain unreachable city officials under very stressful schedules. The guys at the top do not accept excuses for failing to meet deadlines or poor performance. You know that going into it because they tell you during your interviews, but it can be overwhelming for people not ready for the speed at which things move. If you cant perform, you're going to be let go very quickly. If you cant manage 20 phone calls a day and 100+ emails, then keep looking for another job. Management wants to be the best, and part of that is being very responsive to clients. I think they've been burned by some poorly performing employees harming client relationships both in Austin and in the other offices, so the rug gets pulled very fast if you're trending in that direction. On the flip side, if you're a star, you'll get whatever you want because they tend to give the high performers plenty of additional opportunities.