Pros
- There is interesting work here...somewhere. It is just hard to get at it. - Very flexible work arrangements. Working from home part of the time is very common.
Cons
- Promotion/review process is a joke. Crucial to sell yourself and have firm idea of the position you want to move into--if you aren't aggressive about this, then you will get the same review year in year out, and stay at the same position. Turnover means that your manager and his/her manager may have no idea what you were working on 6 months ago. Best way to get a promotion? Make friends with the project manager who makes the most noise. - Contractor "ownership" of some areas amounts to a black hole...tell them exactly how to complete a task and maybe they will execute, but no knowledge accumulates, and good luck getting any advice or direction out of that group. - Hiring process is hit or miss, people hired into 'senior' positions who make no impact and are dead weight. - There is a good chance that if any system has been in production for more than 2 years, than there is no one left in the company who understands it. - Project timelines are sheer fiction. Be wary of putting an firm estimate out there -- your PM will shred it by staffing with weak contractors and one-off projects that are expected to just be absorbed without impacting timelines. - Weekend work is "normal". There will be no shame from management about asking for it and no apology for it.