Pros
- Some work from home days (for now) - Focus on AI tools internally: good learning opportunity
Cons
A lot of things to point out after being here for a while - Lack of advancement. This company is extremely slow to promote from within. I've seen/heard many complaints of developers being stuck in the same junior positions, doing the responsibilites of 1 or 2 levels above them, and still never getting promotion opportunities. Unheard of elsewhere. - Pay on the low end of the spectrum. Obviously a known working in insurance - Layoffs, they do happen. HR and recruiters will bend the truth and say they don't, but they are small and targeted in the LOB's, so they're not widely visible. Several have occured in the past few years, - Costs of commuting to Hartford are very high. You have to pay $125 to even park here as an employee, a discount i guess but still a big cost along with car costs, commute time. You would assume requiring employees to drive into the office at minimum they would provide parking. Just ridiculous. - Commute dangers: Heavy, heavy traffic in the morning and afternoon for Hartford. I live 35 minutes away and my commute is an hour both ways. Along with that you'll have to dodge cars, and nearly get into an accident every day. Insanity. - Nothing free in office: this would be a perk, but no snacks, coffee, or anything. There is a large cafeteria with many of options, which is cool, but that and the coffee stands you all have to pay for. At my salary level and a family at home i could never afford to enjoy any of these. - Lots of benefits advertised not avaliable to all employees: This one irks me the most. I clearly stated how I wanted to go for my masters in a few years, and teach as a side job (since a single income family needs a 2nd income on my salary). Tuition assistance is not offered after a certain salary level, which is basically a mid-level developer. So no MBA, or advanced degree if you had hopes of getting that to further your career. - Expensive health insurance: $900 a month for a family - Lots of disorginization - Lots of old practices: Night time deployments for no real reason, no ownership, no agile, no interest in improving processes. - All roles left shifted: SE1 is mid level, SE2 is a senior, Senior is a staff engineer. All in terms of what the business demands of you, of course without the pay equal to other orginizations in the area. - Bonuses don't have funding targets and are not garunteed. In other words, expect 0% yearly in tech, because that has happened to many. All in all, a lot of people stay here for the small 401 and pension benefits.I was major dissappointed at a lot of the cons i listed here which make me question if this is the right choice. These things could have been made clearer in the hiring process in order to inform my disicion better. If you can dodge layoffs, and afford to work here with maybe a working spouse, you'll get to retire some day. But as a single-income family this place will not cut it, and better opportunities are likely out there if you work in tech.