Pros
1) Strong management team - Since Curt has been in place as CEO, the company has made some great strides. Specifically, I have a lot of faith in the new product leadership which he has recently put in place.
2) Great momentum - For a few years, the prior leadership was distracted by the acquisition and merger with a UK based subsidiary. Lately, we’ve been invigorated by new product leadership and a compelling digital product roadmap that is taking the company is a direction that has a lot of potential..
3) Great culture - The atmosphere around the company is really positive and the company is full of great people. The age profile at the company is diverse but leans a little towards the youthful side - a lot of young parents and millennials - i.e plenty of after work social events, and plenty of fun-loving people. The office environment is refreshingly casual - there isn't much of a dress code in place (shorts in the summer are encouraged!). Everybody who has an office has an open door policy. There aren't many fussy or uptight people.
4) Good HR - In the past, the company wasn't consistent about salary reviews and performance reviews. In those days, instead of the best people getting a raise, it was the people who were good at advocating for themselves that got paid more - while the rest were left with stagnant wages and no bonuses. This problem was exacerbated by the fact that the company wasn't performing well and there simply wasn't a lot of money to go around. Under new HR and supported by the new CEO and CFO, we finally have a formal review process in place which attempts to address these problems. One year in, and it looks like it's working!
5) Good Technology - When you're a software developer, you want to be working with good technology. The R&D developers are working on a very cutting edge cloud technology stack. Most developers outside of the R&D department are involved with an JEE against a different product is built upon a relatively up-to-date stack - boostrap/angularJS on the front end backed by a server-side REST api which utilizes Solr to provide modern search capability. The (java-based) proprietary datacollection and field rendering technology which run on the server side are really well put together and thought out - figuring out some of this stuff makes for a very interesting couple of years.
6) Great location(s) - The Boston HQ is located in the "innovation district" of south boston right by the Children's Museum. It's an 8 minute walk from south station or footsteps from the courthouse silver line station (SL1 or SL2). The lunch time food options are pretty good these days, there is a new Bon Me restaurant around the corner and it's food truck city across the bridge all along the greenway. The portsmouth NH office is on the water and has a really cool industrial feel to it. It's spacious and has exposed vent work. It has grassy lawn around the back which has played host to several parties and clambakes over the years
Cons
1) The bonus program is setup such that only a handful of people outside of management are eligible to receive a bonus all. This kind of program makes those who are ineligible feel demoralized, while the privileged few receive bonuses based on the achievements which aren't their solely their own.
2) The 401k plan is pretty bad. The match amounts to a pittance - an annual 50% on $2500 worth of contributions.
3) The health insurance plan isn't fantastic. The company only funds 66% of the premium which is below average (I believe most range from 75% - 90%)
