Started fairly good, went downhill, and now in a rut
Pros
A product you could be proud to be involved with. Some interesting things to learn When I started there, over 10 years ago, it was a good place to work at overall, it could be that way again. I'm not a visible minority, but in conversations I had with workers there that were, discrimination based on this seems to be very minimal compared to some other high tech companies.
Cons
Work environment has become toxic. I didn't realize how bad it had become until I left. Bullying is acceptable here, even encouraged, and practiced at many levels of management. Discriminating based on age. Uneven promotions, likely tied to an ineffective performance management process and a disconnect of the senior management from the people who actually do the work. I've seen people promoted to a principal engineering position in a few years from fresh out of school, while other (often more capable people) sit in a associate engineering position over that same time. Excessive use of contractors, for both assembly and engineering roles. No training for employees (in house 'best in class' management training doesn't cut it, I'm talking about the technical training people need to do their jobs, Google doesn't replace that for the work being done there). Compensation is so-so, maybe even low given current opportunities in Ottawa. Management doesn't care when good employees leave. Many people are overworked, 10 hours/ day is common, 12 hours and getting called in on weekends happens. Annual or semi-annual layoffs, starting reminding me of the last years of Nortel, or Neutron Jack at GE.
