Booz Allen Hamilton Employee Reviews about "lack of work"

Pros

Most coworkers are really nice and smart. Diverse Flexible work hours. Some managers really care about life balance and your career goals. Good place to learn basic SW practices and skills.

Cons

When I applied to the firm a job request was posted with certain responsibilities that I was interested, but once hired, that job suddenly did not exist. And this is common within the firm. They will post jobs for positions that may or may not materialized. It is a really messed up practice for someone who is excited to work a project for a specific role. So beware when talking to recruiters. - This company feels more like a staffing company. - You are held responsible for being "billable" and you risk termination for a "lack of work". Although there may be someone to help you find work, the work may not be relevant to your career goals. - Tech stack for most projects are outdated or limited due to government processes. - Below market salary. You will learn the basics of SWE and pure coding skills, but you will most likely need to learn by yourself on using the latest tech stacks.

Pros

Work life balance is good. Salary is competitive.

Cons

Lack of Work process and notice is concerning and not right. During my interview process, HR failed to inform me about the Lack of Work process, only to find out about this process after being hired. Lack of Work process kicks in after you are rolled off a project and if you are unable to find a new project within 2 weeks your career manager will have a talk with you about the LoW process. The company has the right to terminate you if you fail to find work or land a new project after four weeks. Another con is that most often folks are places in projects with no subject matter expertise in the relevant space, and often others are forced to pick up the slack. Furthermore, this affects client delivery.

Pros

Technical advancement. Pay, Good People

Cons

Stress. Lack of work life balance

Pros

The company hires employees to the firm, not the contract. Great support network.

Cons

Work is primarily gov't contracting so if a contract is lost it is often difficult to find work within the company if you're not willing to relocate. Otherwise, they will do everything they can to place you but sometimes a lack of work notice will come if specific contracts aren't renewed.

Pros

Booz Allen is a large company that offers opportunities for motivated employees to maneuver their careers in a direction that meets their interests. The 401K match of 6%, although less than the 10% it used to be, is still better than many other similar companies.

Cons

Like anywhere else, your experience at a company in many ways depends on the individuals you work with on your direct team. After many years of good fortune, I ended up with a team whose leadership approach created an unfriendly environment. This made going to work much less fun. When the contract ends, you have to go find work to do. If you don't find work within a certain period of time, you get let go due to lack of work.

Pros

None. Worst company I have worked so far

Cons

I have been working for Booz Allen for past 8 months now. I came from a very prestigious consulting firm, much bigger and better than Booz Allen. Let me tell you exactly what Booz Allen is. Its NOT a consulting firm, its a glorified HR company or worst, a Body Shop Company. I joined as Data Scientist, during the hiring process , I was told I would be working on a govt contract doing Data Analysis. I was LIED!! they never had a job for me, after joining the company I was looking for a position for 3 months. My high security clearance became inactive, as they were looking for a contract for me. Do not join this company if you are looking for a serious career growth. They somehow put me on a contract doing changing passwords for their customers. Booz Allen is a waste was time for any one who is highly skilled and has a high cleareance. DO NOT JOIN this company, they will pay you less than the market and eventually let you go for "Lack Of work". The only reason they hired me cuz they wanted to bid on contract. It's all staff aug at Booz Allen. No meaning ful work. If you are cleared professional stay away from this company.

Pros

Great benefits, tuition reimbursement, flexible schedule if contract allows. Lots of opportunities for career growth.

Cons

If you're remote, you're isolated. They focus the majority of their business in the DC, Northern VA area. If you end up rolling off your contract, you have to find your own work within the company. If you can't find an opportunity within a certain amount of time, then you get a lack of work letter and are laid off. While there are a lot of opportunities to educate yourself and grow your career, if there isn't a job available for you, you lose those skills, especially in the communications field.

Pros

Great people! Great pay! Great benefits! Good amount of Paid Time Off! Telework and potential to work remotely! The summer intern program is a great experience! Great for recent grads who received their Bachelor's degree! Lot of opportunities inside and outside of the US for engineers and developers.* If you are in a regional office, you can be kept on the Bench for a period of time until you find work.**

Cons

Caveat for "Opportunities": the business model kind of stifles talent if you don't fit exactly what they are looking for in a position.* Caveat for "The Bench": If you don't have billable work, then you are left to find work on your own in a convoluted and confusing process until you either get work or receive your "Lack of Work" (LOW) letter.** The quality of Career Managers (CMs) depends on the person and the amount of managerial experience. Most do not have that experience. Their Strategic Innovation Group (SIG) located at headquarters have implemented great policies and standards, like for the Digital Experience initiative, but it takes a while for the regional offices to accept or integrate them into their local offices. Workday and Learning websites are atrocious. The number of decentralized websites is overwhelming.

Pros

Pretty typical contracting firm. Colleagues were great and had I the opportunity to serve and learn on many interesting projects. If you are young, fresh out of college, aren’t married and have no children, this is a great place to gain experience and cut your teeth.

Cons

I was a manager with a stellar career at Bah. I left because I was offered a better opportunity with another firm. No clear path for promotion, it differed from team to team. You may be amazing on one team, you’re up for promotion, then switch teams to chase an opportunity, and all of a sudden none of your previous hard work matters and you’re starting from scratch. Perception is everything there. Constantly reorganizing internally. You are always walking on egg shells waiting for a “lack of work” notice. Work/life balance is awful. If you have a family, be prepared to make some pretty difficult choices in terms of work vs family. Either your family will suffer because you are working all of the time or you will have a difficult time being promoted because of the perception you aren’t working enough. No OT unless you are junior. Otherwise, be prepared to work long hours with little more than just your own self satisfaction that you did a job well done. Someone once told me, “After working in a chicken coop for a long time, you forget how bad it smells. It’s only after you leave, you realize how bad it was.” I totally agree with that statement when it comes to my time spent there. I feel thankful for my time there, but never realized how stressful it was until I left and started working at another company. In hindsight, I wouldn’t change a thing. But moving forward, As a father/husband, I wouldn’t work there again and subject my family to the crazy long hours and stress. If you aren’t physically working there all of the time, you’re answering emails on your phone all night/weekend. Additionally, you may put in 60 hours of work in a week, but if you didn’t put 40 of those hours toward a contract and did internal work for Booz Allen, your career may be in jeopardy and you could end up with a lack of work notice. They don’t truly value experience. If you have been there for a long time, your “rate” may price you out of opportunities.

Pros

None none none none none none

Cons

It is all politics to get promotion, daily social networking, lack of family time, it is not based on talent. Even if you work hard you are send to the bench for lack of work and out the door of the company. It based on Win win contracts but watched out for co peers managements to steal your work and employees. High deductible on benefits.