Image of company portrayed in the media and on the university career fair scene is far from reality. One of their biggest selling points is higher salaries than competitors but this is not accurate - Starting salary is the lowest on the market and the higher salaries people are sold on are extremely difficult to reach, and getting harder all the time. Only a small minority have reached the Gold level after the 2 years they were promised before applying. It is possible to get there but its massively based on favoritism so even the really good people will struggle unless they are in with the leadership.
The company culture is also not as sold either. The CEO is a megalomaniac and the rest of the leadership team are yes men as hes surrounded with cronies. People are insulted, poorly treated and left demoralized soon after they come through the door for the first time. They have billboards up around town advertising awards Alchemys won as the Best Place to Work in IT. Don't know how these awards are judged but its not based on employee feedback and it doesn't reflect the opinion of most employees. From a male perspective I would say working here is especially bad for females as the culture is based on strong man, whoever shouts the loudest type leadership.
It's hard to succeed here as the training and support is so poor. You're trained by people who are only recent graduates themselves. Some of them are very bright but a lot of the time new starts are mentored by people who don't know what they're doing. The leadership don't know what it takes to succeed in this industry so they prioritize the wrong things when hiring. Technology used is Java based but most recruits don't know even the basics of Java. Leadership don't think this matters because they think you can learn it on the job which has been proven wrong time and time again. But they don't learn from mistakes. The people who are capable end up completely burnt out from carrying those that aren't.
