[Myrkk]

Wondering about IT companies to work for in Wellie? Hubbie has a job offer but given it is such a long way away we are wondering about the company. Here in the UK there are definately good and bad companies to work for.

Any companies to avoid in Wellington? Any particularly good ones? Feel free to PM me if you'd rather not say on the forum. I'm not going to post the companies name up here.

[Myrkk]

wow, 87 views and not one reply ;o)

[peebles16]

Myrkk no help to you whatsoever (OH works in laboratories) just hope you get a reply soon to help you on your rollercoaster ride :)
Karenx

[Lupin]

wow, 87 views and not one reply ;o)

perhaps because the title gives no indication to the post content- I have read your post but have no advice to offer :)

[Myrkk]

perhaps because the title gives no indication to the post content- I have read your post but have no advice to offer :)

I'd agree if it werent' for the 172 VIEWS. Which means people have read it but have chosen not to reply. Which is fairy nuff, people get cagey re. companies and stuff.

[SarahEDH]

It might be that people aren't sure how to approach the question. I've worked for an IT company in W. that had good and bad points both, so . . . maybe you could give an example of something bad that your OH def. wants to avoid?

[Myrkk]

It might be that people aren't sure how to approach the question. I've worked for an IT company in W. that had good and bad points both, so . . . maybe you could give an example of something bad that your OH def. wants to avoid?

Good point

Mainly companies that completely lie to staff. i.e. yes we are financially viable then make you redundant a few months down the line.

Or that lie to staff re. what they are taking them on to do then you are left working on a project that has no relevance to your skills or the job advertised.

Or companies with extremely poor management .........

just bad companies. We're not looking for people to trash the companies they have worked for, just an idea of companies that would be wise to avoid.

I suppose at the end of the day there seem to be enough jobs out there that we don't need to worry if the job doesn't pan out we can just swap companies. But we don't really want to be job hopping we're looking for stability.:D

[pinkpiggy]

Sorry i'm afraid we can help. OH is in IT but we're in Hamilton.

Perhaps you could change the title of this thread to The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (IT Companies Wellington).

If you want you could PM the name of the company to me and I'll get OH to ask his boss (who has worked all over) to see if he can tell us anything about them. He's usually pretty good at that sort of thing.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Also, peoples perception of IT companies will depend a great deal on the specific type of IT you are working in.

[barryp]

Yeah, I didn't reply because you didn't provide enough information. And if you want the skinny on a particular firm, there's no reason not to name it.

I have worked with almost every Wgtn IT services provider having a staff count of more than ten. (Not worked FOR them - whew.) Outright falsehoods regarding financials strike me as rare, and in a competitive market like this one I don't see it becoming more common.

OTOH, bait-and-switch happens at every single shop that doesn't operate in one niche alone; you could get hired as a PHP guru and have a three-month perl project dropped in your lap the day you start, even though it's nowhere near what you're good at and enjoy. The Wgtn market is just too small for this not to happen, especially when big clients change their direction or when Government adopts a new fad. The smaller the firm, the more likely this is to happen.

Also the cultures are very distinct and not necessarily good or bad - it just depends on what you are looking for. For example: EDS develops all projects using a very strong hand, a one-size-fits-all methodology and small range of stable products that guarantees results for their clients that is shared across the world. By contrast: Catalyst IT uses much looser methodologies iterated aggressively, and a very wide variety of open source tools they don't control to generate client results. Neither is necessarily bad, but if you're happy at one firm you'd probably not be as happy at the other.

I have concluded that 'extremely poor management' is inescapable in the IT world, but also that Wgtn IT is no more afflicted than any other place. There are even excellent managers in government (I've worked for two of them) and Telecom (I'd be delighted to work for them when they more on ;-) but ending up with a good one is far from a sure bet.