TL;DR
1. Lack of room for growth
2. Nepotism and favoritism
3. Unhealthy environment
4. Low pay compared to market rates
5. Outdated technology and processes
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There aren't a lot of opportunities for growth within projects or throughout the company.
I noticed a lack of accountability for those who do less work and ride the waves of their teammates. No metrics are taken to keep track of individual and team metrics; performance data and personal reviews don't impact promotions or lay-offs. I could tell pretty quickly that TSPi rewards unhealthy behaviors and those that "play the game" (or are related to others in the company) are fast-tracked.
TSPi doesn't really promote interconnectedness amongst its separate contracts. You might never know other people of your discipline on different projects within TSPi. I'm not sure if keeping employees separate is an intentional way to dissuade communication or information sharing or if it is just an unfortunate byproduct of the internal culture. Either way, my professional development suffered because of it.
A lot of decision making is tied up at the leadership level. This is in part due to working alongside an unhealthy government culture, but also because many leads do not display trust in others by delegating tasks to individual contributors. If a lead is sick or takes leave, they have not prepared or trained their team to step in and make sure the client is supported in their absence.
The pay was pretty low compared to similar salaries and roles within the market.
I felt behind in my career while at TSPi. As other private companies are speeding ahead, TSPi is still playing catch-up on the latter end of the technology adoption lifecycle.
