Some plusses, a lot of minuses for IT/Software/Project Management folks in the Seattle area: opiniones de empleados con el puesto de Empleado anónimo en TIAG (The Informatics Applications Group)

-The pay is low for this area. Probably 30% lower than I could make in a similar position in Bellevue or Seattle proper. The thing offsetting the low pay is better work/life balance. You'll have to decide if that's a fit for your needs. -Benefits are sub-par for the area as well. TIAG has been steadily chipping away at employee benefits during the time I've been here. 4 weeks of combined sick/vacation (called PTO) is sub-par for this highly competitive job market. The medical coverage is bare bones. There is NO disability insurance at all and few other benefits. Before hiring on here, make sure you can live with the minimal benefits. -The management here has already removed our ability to work from home when sick, so it's either take some of your PTO or come in to the office sick and infect everyone else. Give us an additional week of sick leave, please, to bring us up to area standards. -The tiag management here is increasingly treating the software and psychological health professionals (who all have degrees, some of us PhDs) like minimum wage employees at a fast food joint. They are becoming more "micromanagers" and less "contract supervisors." We are getting slapped on the wrist for showing up 15 minutes late because of traffic, even if our position doesn't have a lot of direct client contact. If one person out of our 30ish here abuses the telework policy, instead of addressing it with that person individually and holding him/her accountable, everyone is threatened with having their telework removed. This is having a really terrible effect on morale. -PTO does NOT roll over from year to year. It's use it or lose it. And they DO NOT pay out for unused PTO when you leave or when the contract ends. However, if you have taken a little more PTO than you have accrued and you leave or the contract ends, they WILL remove those hours from your final paycheck. -The 401K is about average. Pay increases are minimal to non-existent. Make sure you negotiate a higher salary when you're hired because it's likely that's what you'll have until you leave. -The mandatory year-end weekend in D.C. is a major pain since it is held the weekend before Christmas. There is nothing special about it that can't be handled via teleconference. It's also a major expense for the company to fly everyone out (and their spouses) for 3 days in D.C. I'd rather get a cash bonus and participate in a local party that is teleconferenced to the one in D.C. At least make it optional or make it at a different time of year so that we aren't forced to miss family events here just to go to a meeting. -There really is no room for advancement. That isn't tiag's fault...this is a contracted engagement and you're being tasked with fulfilling a specific role. - The work itself has changed a lot over the years I've been here. It's less software development and more paper-pushing. This isn't tiag's fault...the client needs are changing. For those used to a challenging software development environment where products actually get developed, this is not it. The work is predictable and not very challenging, You are likely not going to advance your skillset while working here. The DoD is hobbled by red tape and it takes forever to get anything accomplished. The pace of development is SLOW. The plus side of this is that it is not a high-pressure, high stress environment. -The contract itself is not stable (none of them ever are). Client needs can change at any time and your position may be eliminated. Contract cycles are nerve-wracking, as are years when the federal budget is unstable. This is livable if you're married or have a partner, but can be challenging if you're the sole breadwinner of your household. Again, this is the nature of government contracting but understand it before signing on.