Some Experience For Your Resume...At A High Cost
Pros
Exposure to some bleeding edge tech, great experience generator for your resume, working with the few dedicated and talented staff and a few of the mid level managers, there is free food and parking/transportation are figured into the compensation package.
Cons
Upper management is unwavering in their requirements of your dedication to the company. It is expected that you devote 100% of your energy to your job, or you are branded as not fulfilling your mission within the company. Don't expect to be able to have a life outside of this organization if you are hired on. Nights and weekends are just more hours on the clock and days on a calendar. PTO use is frowned upon. I have heard from just about everyone who has taken vacation that they feared for their jobs while they were gone and even more so once they returned to the office. A lot has been said about the CEO, and it is all true. He appears to have a heart at first, but that sentiment is only there to buy more time for you to be cheap and overworked cog in his machine. He will throw you under the bus in front of the entire company and clients for following his ill planned orders to perfection (whether they were overtly objected to or not). In addition, be prepared to play politics 100% of your time here if you want to survive, favoritism does exist here and you will deal with it every day. One of the mantras often exclaimed is that "there are no such things as best practices." This is reflected in the quality of code and work that is produced across the board. Lots of bug fixing, custom patches for angry clients and poorly designed software that is difficult and confusing for even experienced technical professionals to work with. If this is a stepping stone for you, great, but be prepared to have to un-learn a lot of bad habits when you choose to move on.
