Easy work - Network Technician Hitcents Employee Review

Fun atmosphere. Very interesting projects. Tons of company events. Great people to work with.

Low starting pay. Expensive benefits packages.

People in the software dev department seemed cool

Upfront, if you are interested in the IT/networking side (I can't say much about the software dev side), only work here if you absolutely have no other opportunities available. The sheer magnitude of incompetency, toxicity, and unprofessionalism from the leadership in the IT in this organization was as staggering in scope as it was to witness. Conciseness for me when writing these reviews has proved to be a challenge as I could write a book on all the problematic details of how this ship is run, but I will only try to hit the most important bits you should know as a prospective applicant. As the lowest level technician, be prepared to pull the overwhelming majority of the workload weight. Crash course training can be normal in some orgs, except be prepared to receive minimal/no meaningful training from the leadership for that heavy volume/intensity of work, the knowledge is either not present to begin with, or has faded. You better be prepared to either fake or until you make it, or have all the experience/knowledge you need going in. Most unique knowledge you will need for the role you will learn from a (one) coworker, as the IT leadership is only a "manager" by title only. Do not expect to use your supposedly knowledgeable supervisor as a resource in the field as in practice you may as well constitute yourself to resolve any problems that come up in the field on your own. There is no accountability, sense of problem ownership, or meaningful leadership from the IT leadership here. If the IT leadership has changed somehow since 2020 (I doubt it, but anything is possible), then prospects here may be marginally better, but career growth is a pipe dream when the department you work within is this poorly led. Be prepared to hear The Mandalorian at full volume from your manager's office next door while you are working your butt off taking calls, resolving technical issues, and getting your hands dirty in the field. I wish I was joking. Be prepared for long drives to places you probably would never otherwise want to be, rain, hail, or pandemic (with no provided ppe btw). Be prepared for long and frequent on call rotations, much more frequent than at other companies (this IT department is just that small, n=~3), taking care of every little problem stores whether it's 3pm or 3am on a Sunday, so be prepared to take your work laptop everywhere you go, dates or family outings. Be prepared to get chewed out for little things not done to the manager's (inconsistent) expectations, and no recognition at all for the ever growing list of major things done right. Be prepared to do all this while being expected to have a CCNA or similar credentials for half the salary the certification calls for. I eventually was able to earn a CCNA and get into a much better role at a much better organization, but it was wholly due to my efforts studying AFTER being employed here, very little if any of what I did here prepared or helped me to achieve it. I very likely could have gotten much more out of my employment or got my certification sooner if I went elsewhere. Be prepared after many months of pulling most of the weight and doing good work only to be suddenly let go for questionable reasons, like for malfunctioning equipment that doesn't even belong to the company and you were never told to be responsible for, something that requires a call to another third party to come out and repair. Then be prepared to go months without any income, because they will then claim you did not do your job to expectation, as though you were a bad employee after all the hard effort you've put into your work. The timing of letting you go may conveniently coincide with when you become eligible for certain employment benefits, which they conveniently don't tell you at the start you'll have to work for a certain amount of time before you can utilize. Be prepared for all of that. Because if it can happen to me, what makes you think it couldn't happen to you? I eventually was able to receive my unemployment insurance after fighting it (6ish months later) but this is something that should not have to be done in the first place. It was a spineless move and unacceptable. It is something I will never forget. They can appeal to take down my reviews but it's not going to change my experience. This was thus far the worst employment experience I've had in my professional career and it's not even close, if I could go back and redo that time again I would have tried harder to go any other direction. Epitome of an unpleasant time.