AT&T

Great benefits. The 401k plan matches up to 6% of contributions.

The people I work with are genuine, and I made friends quickly.

There will always be work for AT&T. The job security is par none, and the employees are well aware of that.

Culture is extremely conservative. Do not work here if you believe a single bit of liberal or progressive ideology.

The office is cramped and the overhead lights are blinding. Apparently, turning them off is an "OSHA violation" despite it being lit adequately by the light coming in through the windows.

The infrastructure is a disaster. Code is sloppy and a bear to refactor or even make much sense of. Only a fraction of new developments in deployment and automation technology has been taken advantage of.

The majority of it is not allowed because management has a problem with us implementing technology solutions that other companies offer when we can "do it ourselves." Hence, AT&T lacks any eCRM whatsoever.

The IT department has been outsourced to IBM. Working with the majority of that staff, who will ignore you and not deliver, then turn around and ask you for more money, is beyond frustrating.

If you work a position like this at AT&T, be prepared to deal with the immense amount of stress that comes along with it. Poor methodologies, unrealistic deadlines, and an uncooperative IT department take the normal stresses of software engineering and architecture to a whole new level.

Take advantage of software such as EasyCRM to streamline your business and take some of the development and capital load off of the backs of your employees, who have more important problems to address than simply compensating for a lack of technology.