Technology - Mixed bag but on the whole a good experience
Pros
* Very helpful, fun and friendly atmosphere. The people are great and I looked forward to going to work and spending time with them. Good sense of community in the department. * Very sociable group and pretty good at celebrating success with team away days and seasonal parties. * Depending on your role, there's opportunity to travel. * You can feel good about your work knowing you're helping to further scientific research. * Good work / life balance. You can work from home one day a week. * Good emphasis on learning with 10% time on Fridays and regular Info shares. * Opportunity to work with teams located across the globe.
Cons
* Organisation has been undergoing a lot of change for a few years following several mergers. There's often team changes / re-orgs with little notice or input. * Very politically charged environment. I didn't always feel that management were making decisions based on what's best for the company vs. what's best for lining their pockets. * Still a very male dominated environment with few women in senior leadership roles. IT Execs were often referred to as the smoking, whiskey drinking dinosaurs. * The organisation has grown significantly and quickly yet Execs still behave like a small company. Technology choices and decisions you'd expect to be made at team level are made by execs with little context or knowledge of the subject area. * Contractors are easily discarded on short notice. I'd be wary accepting a role here as a contractor.