Epic reviews

While the pros are nice, there are of course cons. Salary staff tend to work long hours, hourly staff work a typical week. A decision is made about what is a good "fit for you" while knowing where someone might fit in is good, it can pigeon hole people. So if you do accept a position, don't forget who you are and what you know you can do.

The average number of hours worked by my team was 47/wk. Anytime I worked less than 47 hours (like Thanksgiving week) I was reminded that I really needed to be "at or above average." So the average was continually rising... There was once a mini seminar held on work-life balance for my division. It basically suggested working from home after putting in 8-9 hours at your desk. Also, as a salaried employee you are asked to log all of your time in 15 minute increments and very, very specifically. This is pretty strange, but the only way your manager will probably manage you. Management is promoted based on hours worked/technical skills, not management skills or people skills. Most managers in my department were incapable of speaking in front of a group of more than 5 people - not exactly fine leadership. Feedback is few and far between, until you make a mistake and then it will be brought up continually for several years. Documentation used to be a huge problem, it is getting better, but knowledge is still an issue since the average tenure of employees hovers between 2 and 3 years. Non-compete is very strict Programming language is severely out-dated Job titles do not show the levels of responsibility and complexity that your job entails. Work hours are supposed to be flexible, but if you aren't in by 8 am and a customer complains, then the hours suddenly become non-flexible. I often answered pages at home between 6 am and 7 pm. You are expected to be reachable 24 hours a day, but not provided with a cell phone. Most individuals must work from home to keep up, but are not provided with a computer. Software is very buggy (think 5,000+ patches per release, and at least half of the bugs aren't fixed) and often quickly/poorly installed, so in TS your job often becomes crisis control. Having multiple customers in crisis mode for a clinical application is very stressful and a frequent occurrence.