Boyd Caton Group Reviews

Things were great for a while but management made some really weird planning choices. Looking back on it I think they were trying to slow down the project and run up the bill to the client. You have to remember we were contractors so the more time and people we put on a project the more we billed the client. 1. No clear specs. 2. Last 6 months I was there the project we were given never had specs or a deadline. 3. They wouldn't let us refactor simple things to save time. We keep fixing the same broken code that was in half a dozen places. 4. Towards the end a lot of developers and management were afraid to learn new things. Even simple things where the technology wasn't much different. 5. In my opinion they didn't want to use technologies and code that would shorten our workload too much. 6. In the beginning of 2016 the client cut the work order and management was never honest about it. 7. The projects took way too long and had too many people on it. The client did approve all of this though. I pushed back a bit on trying to make things more efficient. Less time on repetitive work, automating things, and so on. I even spent my own personal time on things. None of that was appreciated. In the end it just got me in trouble. So I am a little bitter but that's the way I see everything.

It's all a game and you will probably lose. Whether your pay is fair or not depends on how well you negotiated at the outset and your bargaining power/strategy/approach when you ask for a raise (and you will have to ask). If you're a confident white male, you'll probably fare better. People that are charging to contracts will have more room for fair pay than those on overhead, even if the level of work they're doing is much lower. They have billable people that are doing intern-level work and making six figures, but someone drafting proposals or doing other really valuable overhead work will not be eligible for the same pay. Don't ever show emotion or weakness or burnout or any hint of criticism or you might get fired or at minimum will lose your bargaining power. They pile work on really effective employees to the point of insanity ("we just know you'll handle it well"), while at the same time telling them that they're not really that valuable and don't deserve additional help or more pay or an accurate title for all the things they've taken on. ("Titles don't matter.") There is a lot of gaslighting, blaming, shaming, micromanaging, constantly changing expectations and requests, artificial deadlines and unnecessary stress, and your entire job focus and description could be changed at any time without your input. You will never get credit for the amazing things you do. Management takes all the credit for things that go well, and places blame when things go badly. You could get blamed and shamed for a genuine simple mistake or perfectly reasonable judgment call, even if it saved them money in the long run. I really have no idea why they're so angry and defensive with employees. Bottom line: if you're desperate for a job or health insurance, go for it. You might be one of the lucky ones that fares well, plus you will make friends and might learn something. Just don't ever, for one second, let yourself think you might be "home" here. Keep your guard up and be ready to move on if you have to.