Secrecy, politics, low salaries, no performance reviews, tiny mature company pretending being big
Pros
If you want to learn from the occasional great underpaid IT or sales professional who works here, because he has more freedom here than at a large corporation, this is the place to be. Prospective 'cheap labor' IT trained immigrants who want an 'entry level' opportunity can often get a job here.
Cons
With the occasional great IT professionals, you'll also have to put up with the other end, so with utterly incompetent staff which still only have their job because they have ingratiated themselves with the owners or HR. This company's owners (privately owned) keep all information about performance and customers secret, even for their own employees. If they promise you that they will sell do an IPO and sell the company and you will benefit from that, do not believe that. No one wants to buy a company that has little 'high value' employees, almost no documentation on their products and is built largely with third party software, so no unique, self-created patented and owned software. If they tell you (and their customers) that they have millions if customers and installations, do not believe it. It is all part of a strategy of overinflating their real sales and customer base. The main owner loves to 'look big' instead of staying true. I can imagine that a start up would do that to get its first break, but not a longtime established company like this one. This company never came out of its pioneer phase. Staff is not reviewed for their performance for years and is therefore not given any raises, even the most valuable ones, who are old hands, so your starting salary will be your salary for all the years you work there. And this a standard used for all. You're expected to 'love your job' gratis. There is no strategic management vision for the company of any kind, just a 'survival tactics'. The company is run like a fiefdom by the main owner, who seems to be more interested in 'being king' than 'being rich' .
