Pros
If you are looking for a smaller close-knit team environment where you can immediately play a major role in exciting implementation and development projects and make significant impact, and where your contributions and achievements are highly recognized and well rewarded, you will find that environment working at CBSi. There is practically no bureaucracy or office politic within the organization. The President goes out of his way to make every team member successful and become an integral part of the company by:
- encouraging and rewarding team work
- providing and encouraging continuous learning and mentoring, on-the-job training, and functional and technical cross-training
- getting many if not all of team members involved in the decision-making process on product design, implementation design, operations, marketing, and even personnel matters.
- implementing profit sharing programs
Having built a successful IT career at large corporate environments with over 20+ years experience which included upper management and executive roles, when joining CBSi, I was initially concerned and skeptical whether I would fit in at CBSi. One of my concerns was about being able to work with the president who is also the sole owner, knowing that in many owner-operator businesses, the presidents/owners are typically much more controlling than the level acceptable to me. Within two weeks of joining, my concerns were completely erased. I was immediately assigned to work on significant implementation projects with complete independent and autonomy of making operational as well as tactical decisions on the projects. And, contrary to my expectations, the president has always been open and fielding opinions from team members (not just from me) on various company and client-related matters. We would often spend hours debating and arguing pros and cons on a subject before agreeing as a team.
If you are considering joining CBSi team and are hesitant after reading some of the Glass Door reviews, I can attest to you that some of the negative reviews are just the reviewers’ personal opinions that I and many other team members at CBSi do not agree and/or experience. Especially so are their opinions about the president’s personality traits. While he certainly is not perfect, he is in many ways one of the best managers that I have ever reported to. He is sharp, detail-oriented, and hands-on. He is always willing to listen to our opinions and ideas. He encourages us to challenge him anytime when we think that he may not be right. He in turn challenges us when he thinks that our way may not the best. He is also most generous, gracious, and sincere. He goes out of his way to make sure that we are well rewarded for jobs well done. He takes the time to listen and to try to assist us with our issues, both work-related and personal. And, when he does so, I can tell time and time again that he genuinely cares.
Cons
If you are looking for a slow-paced environment and are not comfortable with change, this is probably not the best place for you. If you are looking for a job with traditional career path, with advancement to managerial and supervisory roles, this may not be the best place for you either, at least not at the present time, due to the current size of the organization and the flat nature of the organization structure.
