Pros
The only pros are that I met some great coworkers that I will stay friends with no matter where I go or what I do next.
Cons
This is not an angry rant by an ex-employee. This is a truthful account of my experiences at AMI. I am writing it so that another of my peers, an AV Engineer like myself, doesn't end up up in a bad situation. Take it how you will and make the final decision on your own. This role is not an AV Engineer role. Its more of a well compensated AV Tech position. I have been an AV Engineer and Project Manager for over 15 years, and a tech/lead tech for about 5 before it. I have seen all sorts of different ideas of what an AV Engineer should be. None of them are like this. Throw out any preconceived ideas you have of what your role will be from day one. Its not the way they describe it. When I was hired by AMI, I was told that this position was for a technically challenging role designing cutting edge systems. This is only partly true. Yes. The company does work on some cool projects. No. You will not be designing much cutting edge AV related to them. During my first month at AMI, I spent more time repairing old AV junk that the owner bought off Ebay, than designing systems. Even for the companies own brand new facilities, I was tasked with trying to get 15 year old video projectors to work in the conference rooms. Any recommendations for to purchase and install equipment based on current day standards were argued with and usually tossed aside by the owner himself. If you try to reason with him and explain current technology, he becomes insulting. Another issue was that when I was hired on, I was told I would not have to spend much time traveling. Out of my 3 months with AMI, I was required to spend 30 days straight on the road without being allowed to return home, and was even scolded by the PM on the project for needing to take a day off during that 30 day period. I found out that my next projects were also going to require a lot of travel time. Keep this in mind if you have a family. There are a lot of talented people at this company. Dont take this to be about everyone. My manager, the shops manager, a few of the project managers and staff were awesomely creative and smart people. I miss working with them. They just arent trusted with actual authority and power to make things happen on their projects, and that is the norm at AMI. Every single decision, no matter how small, has to go through the owner. Its a serious road block for a company this size that is trying to react to projects and stay "cutting edge". Sr Staff and owner rule using fear instead of open forum and exchange of ideas. Even if they are wrong about something, they will create chaos around the problem rather than admitting a mistake and allowing it to be resolved. Many times I presented solutions to project issues in very clear, precise documents with manufacturers specification and drawings to support my recommendations. In almost every single instance, the owner still chose to go his own direction. This wouldnt be an issue for me. He is the owner. He can decide how to spend his money. The issue I have, is that once he makes those decisions, should they fail, he will still blame other people. When he does, its not just a normal conversation, he yells at them, and belittles them in front of coworkers. It might work as a dictator, but its a lousy way to be as the boss of a company that should be nurturing the talent at its disposal. Since I left, I have heard that several other people have left for the same reasons. I will leave you to read their reviews and form your own opinion. If you still take the job, add your review to this list in a few months and say "You were right."
