Costco

Job security, friendly people, low pressure, free turkey yearly.

If you love bureaucracy, substandard pay, antiquated technology, incompetent management, cult-like pressure to conform, job security, capped raises, lazy "lifer" colleagues, and minimal innovation, Costco IS is your dream job.

The Costco environment selects for risk-averse, mediocre employees. This is because the company brags about not firing anyone, and there is very little accountability. Loyalty and tenure are valued above all considerations.

You could be an expert in your field, and you will often be passed over for others that have no real tech qualifications but have been with the company for decades and have demonstrated the requisite fealty to the "Costco Culture".

I'm not saying that there aren't people who enjoy working in Costco IS. There are. However, the people that thrive there are people who would not be able to survive in other tech environments. They are very grateful to have a desk job with decent pay and low expectations.

The department is thick with these types of people, and they exhibit the worst cult-like groupthink behaviors. Innovative types are quickly informed that their best ideas are not "the Costco way" and will be ignored.

If you are the type of knowledge worker that thrives in a high-accountability environment where you can have room to express your creativity and make a real impact, then working at Costco will drive you nuts. You've been warned.

Management needs to realize that you can't treat IS workers like retail. The IS department needs leadership that understands technology, not a bunch of Luddites who have been rotated in from other departments. It's OK to promote from within, but promote the smartest people and those most capable in technology, not the ones who have been with the company the longest and are deferent enough. Costco has been successful despite its incompetence in IS so far. This situation will not last forever.