Pros
Good overtime money if you work weekends - if you’re not working in the IT department it’s ok E.g. HR and Finance
Cons
1. No matter what technical level you are hired at whether it be Systems Engineer, Field Engineer, CTM or specialist. 90% of your work consists of 1st line onsite tasks - e.g. Allot of desk moves / building PCs / basic desktop support. even technology managers are sent onsite to clients for desk moves because Eci have no staff left. Oh yes and big big jobs are ... printer setups. Lovely 2. During my last month at Eci - 4 or 5 Engineers had left within 3 weeks of them joining (they noticed the ridiculous work and pressure). Imagine Receiving a disciplinary by management because a client wanted you to complete 8 desk moves with 6 screens each while wearing formal attire (shirt and formal trousers). LOL ludicrous 3. Your bonus will just about buy you a PlayStation and payrises might get you a couple extra bottles of wine a year (even though apparently they’re taking on much new clients) which they are not. Clients are leaving and reducing services from Eci. If a client takes you onsite full time - remember, you’re a first line engineer nothing more, and you get all the rubbish jobs because their internal team does the fun stuff. 4. The travelling is just ridiculous - I know it’s an MSP but do you really want to get on the tube 5 times a day to just do desk moves at multiple clients? Smelly smelly. 5. Forget flexibility. There’s no hey I have an emergency appointment can I take half day etc. They will say no we don’t have any other engineers. Holiday is hardly approved unless booked more than 6 months in advance because they have no ‘backfill’ (their fault because they can’t hire). Honestly it’s just the type of headache you don’t need. 6. Ridiculous time tracking - a step further than most MSPs, must clock in and clock out 4 times a day on one website, then on a completely separate system you have to add in your time tracking and what you’ve done for each hour of the day. Times must be in inline between both systems down to the minute, might just become a business admin. Finally - look at all the negative reviews and see how many have liked them. Everything is true. They post their own good reviews from time to time so ignore those. If in doubt - LinkedIn message any former eci engineer and ask for their review. Save yourself the hassle definitely not worth the move. Oh yes forgot one thing - 5 days sick pay only and minimum SSP if you’re injured or off work for an operation (google minimum SSP and see how much), best hope you never break a leg or arm during those desk moves!
