AT&T

Big company where there is a lot of work and a lot to learn. Other teams are always willing to help each other out when issues arise. Good 9 to 5 work/personal life balance; no one is required to work overtime even though there is a lot of overtime at times.

Ever since AT&T took over, there haven't been many contractor conversions to employees. I believe only one person has converted since I was there the last 3 years.

DirecTV used to convert many contractors, so there were many career opportunities back then.

AT&T managers don't seem to care much about contractors.

There have been a lot of layoffs towards the end of the year, for both employees and contractors.

Contractors are not invited to corporate events/parties, even though we are considered one big team.

A lot of good, hard-working people with a lot of knowledge have left after AT&T took over.

Treat your contractors better, especially since most of them are your last line of defense when testing software before it deploys to the masses.

Start hiring some of your contractors.

Try to retain hard-working, knowledgeable employees and contractors before they leave for another company. Maybe give them a pay raise.

Don't keep all the money at the top. Spread it around a little with the grunt workers who save you when the software deploys and minimal issues are found.

Some incentive programs would be nice, or at least a pat on the back once in a while for the showstopper bug finders.