atrain PsychoPlayground! After starting the assessment never stops as management decide if they really want you to play!
Pros
Super clever young graduates there and learnt a lot from them Couple of really great seniors too if you are lucky enough to have them as a mentor
Cons
At first it is seemingly positive, friendly and transparent. But there is a great deal of judgement upon every single error lurking just beneathe the surface. Continually highlighting errors appears to be the method of motivation, particularly in the first year. The feedback / coaching culture seems to be designed to generate insecurity through a lack of information, perhaps because management wants to test your resilience! It is not just my own experience that highlights this but insightful comments from others, including one who suffered serious weight loss in the first few months and another never feeling at home there at first because of unspoken expectations. Comminication is painfully indirect and the pseudo-positive psychology is patronising and lacking in authenticity. For example, I was confronted regularly with sentences such as "we want you to shine" and "we believe in you", while not being given a project. Feedbcak is indirect along the lines of "I have heard from people that...". It is neccessary to constatly battle for tangible feedback that you can do something with! One comment was very telling on the culture: "atrain is a playgrond full of comic-book characters. You think it's fun, but we're not children. You can't invite someone to play and then quickly decide you don't want to play with them anymore." The comment on the atrain psycho-terror playground rings true. Consultants are quickly isolated if management doesn't feel like you are a great playmate! Feedback is withdrawn and projects are not forthcoming while protecting their positive image with "we believe in you" talk. Communication is in itself very hierarchial. It is a minefield of learning the emotional behaviours that management expects. The best thing to do is to demonstrate you know very little and savour the pearls of wisdom provided from above! It is a patriarchial organization. All-male management with a majority of young female graduates in their first role. This makes it a bit of a strange environment. Opportunities for advancement limited as the power structure is pretty set. The Guru-like founder of the enterprise figure is a nice guy and genuine in his ideals, for example on topics such as the agile organization. However he is not involved in the day to day management of the company. There is a clear disconnect between his beliefs and the lieutenants who implement company ideals on a daily basis. It is very much a Zeus-style company where it is imperative to get management to accept your character. Fleeting perceptions have a much higher value than observation of work. It is a poorly paid 40-hour contract but you are expected to work 48 as standard. Often with Centres it is necessary to work 60 + hours in a week with management stipulating you can take ONE DAY (maximum!) off after this "if you feel you need it". This is a bit cheeky because the hope is you display your work ethic and high energy through simply not doing it! Again spoken interest in personal well-being is not backed up in actions. Being a slightly older member of staff will pose its own challenges as they have had more success hiring fresh graduates. I was told that this makes them easier to brainwash! A development organization that is very set in its ways and resistant to change - far from being an agile organization but good on advising how to become one - I do love the irony! atrain is a place full of contradictions, not least the inability to offer systematic feedback and coaching. I experienced a culture that quickly pigeon-holes talent and it is very tough to break out of this mould once a perception has taken root.
