Pros
I feel that the other reviews of DiamondIT are actually quite honest, however; they are almost so positive that they read like advertisements. So here is my honest review to hopefully help people make an informed decision. I've been at Diamond for 6 months now. 5 Years ago I was not IT, I was in a small village in Afghanistan trading war stories with veteran villagers who fought off Russians in the 80s. I worked my way into IT. I studied day and night so that when I left the military I had something to fall back on. Leaving the military is a fearful experience, you're constantly told that civilians will step on you, use you to get ahead, they'll stab you in the back. So it was with a lot of apprehension that I started my career as a civilian. I applied to numerous places in the Bakersfield area, received a number of interviews. Some of the interviews even offered me a better deal, probably because they thought I was more capable than I was at the time (keep in mind I was a entry range level 2 tech, certainly not an engineer). It was against my wife's wishes and perhaps common sense that I chose Diamond over them. The reason why was two things: I know a toxic environment when I walk into it. I walked into so many different business and so many people were unhappy. During the interviews it was about what I could do for the company to help them make money and very little about what they would in return for me. I'm looking for a 20 year place to be, not somewhere that will use me to jumpstart an IT business and then brush me away. I wanted to invest in my company and in return have them invest in me. When I walked into Diamond for the interview this was immediately apparent. They wanted me to grow, they encouraged my studies in IT, they offered clear cut ways to improve, incentives to work towards, and most importantly the environment was one more akin to a family and less like a corporate shadow. I came away from my interview very interested. They worked with me, they were understanding of my issues and my experience and I felt very much that I had found a place that was outside the norm. That was 6 months ago and I am incredibly happy with my decision. Enough of the warm and fuzzies; here are the facts that most people would want to know: 8AM - 5PM. Flexible lunch. Flexible overtime if your a technician. Great pay for Bakersfield - if you're willing to work for it. You need certifications if you want to make more money. Just the nature of IT. Don't come in with no certs and expect to make a buttload. The owner is wonderful, the management is great and easy to talk to. Literally no issues there. I had lunch with just the owner and myself, he does it for everyone. Great guy, couldn't be happier with Matt. I've seen a lot of leaders in my time and Matt is all around a genuinely good person. You will be working with VMware, Windows Servers, Cisco products, Mitel phones, etc. You will touch almost every major brand of IT devices and software. Everything from basic troubleshooting of QuickBooks to building an entire network infrastructure. You're day to day will be different, some days you'll come in early or even on weekends to travel across the state to introduce a new cloud environment and other days you'll be in house just resetting passwords, it's the nature of the beast. It doesn't matter what your experience is, if you come in acting like you're above doing a password reset you won't last long. You have to be willing to do everything from the simplest task to something way out of your expertise with someone else there to show you how. You must be willing to learn, to grow, and to be humble. If you say you're a 10/10 on some kind of technology you're lying. Don't say it. Unless you wrote Microsoft Server 2012 code, you're not a 10/10. Be humble, be polite, be a team player. Don't bull(edit because glassdoor made me) anyone, work hard, and you will have the respect of everyone. Mistakes are fine. Just own up to them, like I do everyday.
Cons
It's a growing company. There are growing pains. Systems will get changed repeatedly. You'll get trained on how to do something then it'll get all switched up when they find something better. It's part of it, just be flexible. Sometimes you'll have to work at night or over weekends. Servers only go down when people are at home. This won't change no matter where you do IT. Be a team player, be willing to do some overtime. It's not a crazy amount usually and if you're honest and tell them you need more or less they'll work with you. But don't purposefully avoid everything, makes it seem like you don't want to be part of the team. I have a baby, it's rough sometimes. But you can work from home, I mean... what more can you ask for? Vacation... vacation is a bit bare. Haha. I come from 30 days off a year and starting at Diamond it's a big blow to family time. The amount of days increases over time, but that's probably my only real complaint of Diamond. It's a small company/medium company. This is a pro to me, but for some they're not used to it. What you do and say, both good and bad, will travel around. Some customers get cranky. Some are always difficult. It's just how people are, if you're not a people person than consulting probably isn't for you. You need to show that you're working towards something. This can be a 20 year career place, but don't come in as a level 1 and then not get a single certification or anything for a year. Eventually someone else will come along who does do that. You have to continuously improve, it doesn't need to be overnight, but don't stagnate yourself. IT isn't a field where you learn it once and you're done. The senior engineers know a lot. Sometimes the things they do were the right answer 10 years ago. Technology changes fast, sometimes things change. If you come in and you think you know a better way you might be right. But at least prove you're worth first before dismissing everything. Along those same lines, sometime's you'll use inferior systems because it's what the top level engineer wants you to use. Just try not to start drama match over it. Be a team player, prove your knowledge, than open your mouth. But it can be frustrating. I get it. Meetings in front of everyone are not the place to bring it up. I have questions constantly, just know when and were to ask them. Be humble if you're proven wrong; or even if you're right. Finally, time is how we bill. We use a ticketing system. You'll feel like every minute of your time is micromanaged and if it's wrong you'll be immediately asked to correct it the next day. It's annoying and sometimes a little patronizing. But it's how they make money and how they are sure they are fair to their customers. There is a lot of pride in how we treat our customers. As much as I hate to do it, I don't have a better idea. Until I do I try not to complain. Just be aware when you come in you'll have to do tickets, back to back, with no missing minutes between. That doesn't mean you cant take a break, but it does mean that you have to be able to manage your time and account for yourself. You can't be lazy here.
