I learned a great deal, thanks to a couple of colleagues and hard work on my part.
Pros
If you really enjoy being left totally isolated at work, it's a great company to work for. Several staffers, with specialized skills, work remotely 80-100% of the time, unless somebody from the Arizona head office comes into town, in which case they get an email telling them that they will be expected to be present in the office. AFS Financial, the company that bought out Softrax several years ago, offers a good benefits package, costing $25 per pay period for the premium health insurance plan. The vacation is given as "PTO" (Paid Time Off), so if you are out sick a lot, you will have less vacation time available. The software development team is well-lead, and seems to be content with their work-life balance. The Director of Product Management is smart, focused, and a person of integrity. The office complex in which the company is located has lots of free parking, and the building management company does a good job keeping the parking lot free of snow. The Norfolk County D.A.'s office is upstairs, so the building is very secure. A Wegman's supermarket is being built on University Ave.
Cons
With the exception of a couple of helpful colleagues, one of the most alienating work experiences of my life. I had one "colleague" who came in one day a week, sat in a cubicle across from me, and didn't say 10 words to me (including "Hello" or "Good Morning") the whole time I was there. The long-time director of Software Development at the company quit, with no notice, in June of 2014. From what I heard, he literally said "I quit" and walked out the door, never to return. His second-in-command was promoted to fill his position, but has also taken on a part-time position at another new software company, which does not bode well to me. Like every software developer in the world, he can write his own ticket. Free breakfast on Fridays? Never once. The only time the company bought us lunch was when we had a company meeting, or somebody from the Arizona head office came to town, which happened every six months or so. I read with great interest another comment about managers "arrogant to cover up their incompetence" - "older, insecure contingent working there who haven't learned to work alongside the younger, more accomplished 'new blood'. " I know exactly who you are talking about, and while he was not working there when I was hired, he's back, with a shiny new job title, and the same inflated sense of his own importance. He was brought in to get rid of people (including me), but as cheaply as possible, by manufacturing a false accusation that I had falsified my credentials when I applied for the job, which I had not. (Too bad they are doing business in Mass., which has an Unemployment Insurance system that favors the claimant.) Meetings with him quickly devolved into a bullying session behind closed doors, until I insisted on leaving his office door open, when they became both succinct and professional. Like every other bully in the history of the planet, he's a coward. I had already started a search for another job, when they did me a favor and laid me off, which made my job search much easier.
