employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Summa Technologies

Acquired by CGI

Is this your company?

Once a great company, now just another staff-aug consulting company - Anonymous employee Summa Technologies Employee Review

2.0
17 July 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Intelligent co-workers. When on longer projects, pay is decent. 50/50 chance you may consult on an interesting project (that also may be a con) Beer in the fridge.

Cons

Up until 3 or so years ago, Summa was a fairly small boutique consulting company with a formidable reputation in the heart of Pittsburgh. It was viewed as one of the top places to work, boasting a vibrant culture, an intelligent workforce, and a burgeoning list of successful projects. The delivery team could be highly selective when vetting possible projects, and ultimately staffed these projects with a healthy sized team of Summa consultants. Projects were designed and implemented by Summanoids, from top to bottom. Client respect seemed to be at an all time high. Then, senior management decided to do 4 things: Expand into territories where Summa had absolutely no presence. Hire, hire, hire. Even if means setting the bar lower for candidates with no software coding experience. Invest into groan-worthy partnering technologies. Make most top level consulting positions primarily sales focused (may have been a necessity for expansion) Over the past 3 years, so much has changed. Summa sold its soul for unsustainable growth and geographical expansion (hoping to be bought by one of it's partners?). The company's overhead has also been disproportionately mushrooming. Of course, while trying to sustain this growth, delivery has to take any project it can staff. Desperately shifting more and more to 1-3 person staff augmentation "projects". Note that Summa once secretly prided itself in turning away staff augmentation opportunities. Now it seems to be the norm. Many consultants fear their next project. Not surprisingly, the naive geographical expansion backfired to the point where people hired in other regions work primarily for Pittsburgh projects... from another state. The investment/transition into partnering technologies is clearly seen as a precarious short-term "money grab". By pushing this, management has effectively alienated many of their top consultants. Once highly regarded, core consultants are viewed merely as replaceable commodities. Seeing through the facade, many consultants wise up and leave for greener pastures, and in doing so, learn they can make the same money elsewhere. Pride in working for Summa has faded, as the culture has veered towards the way of "brain-drain". Now, Summa is really just your run-of-the-mill "eat what you kill" enterprise consulting firm. Nothing more, nothing less.

Explore other reviews about Summa Technologies

5.0
8 Apr 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good benefits for part time employees

Cons

Long work hours at times

3.0
8 June 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good company culture, however, as we grow, this becomes more difficult to maintain. Tremendous opportunities for training and growth. Genuine belief in Agile as the right way to do software development. Beautiful new office in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, although most employees are consultants who spend little time there. Still very nice and impressive. Very smart employees. Some of the best technical talent that have ever worked with.

Cons

Some growing pains are evident. More turnover than in previous years. Some struggles in defining the career ladders. Perhaps trying to grow too fast, creating more overhead and alienating some of those in our custom app consulting business.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All