Pros
Six figure salary within 18 months of hire. Unionized contract. (the best in all the industry) You will get an additional 2% of your overall salary placed into 401K yearly without doing anything (don't even have to contribute a dime as an employee) you start with 5 PLDs to use right when you start. Stock purchase program matches 35% up to 6% of your salary. So between the base salary and other ways to get matches, you will make 110K per year. That's not including overtime. With OT some make 120K. Oh yeah and forgot to mention, 8 hours shifts/ 40 hours per week - No long hours.
Cons
You are on probation from the moment you are hired until 6 months after qualification day. So to put it in perspective some may take 3-6 months to qualify so add that to the amount of time you are on probation. If it takes 6 months to qualify then add another 6 which makes a full year that your on probation. During this period you can be terminated for no reason at all. I mean it. Don't try to think your way out or think you will beat the system, they will get rid of you fast if your not cutting it. In addition the place is a revolving door. So many come and so many go. The stress is extremely high and often you will get undermined by others who call you a "mouse clicker" as if the job is easy and thats all you do. You are only a few mistakes away from being "put on the street" which is a fancy way of saying fired. I have seen guys/gals with 10-15 years on the job get into a season in their career where a few honest mistakes were made and got canned with no mercy. The problem is that even an honest mistake if it involves safety means that someone could have got injured or got killed due to the mistake. This is taken seriously and there is no way around it. Also, you will be on a guaranteed extra board and be required to train and work a total of 4 desks to fill where needed. You will most likely get your schedule 2 weeks in advance (subject to changes) which is still abnormal and actually better than how most extra boards work in the industry but the fact that this is not your standard 9-5PM job should be a warning. You can expect to work holidays/weekends/overnight shifts.
