jobbite
I've always heard such great things about SAS being the #1 company to work for, but quite frankly I didn't see it. SAS is designed in such a way that if you have a bad boss, they will have the ability to walk all over you and there won't be a darn thing you can do about it. For instance, I had a boss who was bipolar and clearly off her meds. On day one she got an attitude with me for daring to want to know if flex time was available and for actually having the nerve to ask what hours I could work. She would verbally give instructions and then email something entirely different and then bless me out for not following her directions. She would randomly get mad at me for the stupidest things like being happily married and actually wanting to spend free time with my kids. I have to say just being around her gave me a headache. One day she would be very unpleasant and hateful to me and then expect me to be her buddy the next day. She was one of those people who focus only on the negative so if I had 10 things to work on and made a very minor mistake on one, she would completely bless me out and call me names and compare my skills to that of an intern. Her behavior is inexcusable. I had to learn to support three poorly documented systems and be a complete expert on them in three months. Also, if I asked my coworkers questions to try to understand the systems better, she would tell me that by doing that I was responsible for them not getting their work done as well as my own. So, I got no documentation and no help from coworkers but still I'm supposed to know this stuff in a very quick timeframe. In the end, she terminated me because she had a friend in another department who wanted to be on her team and she needed a vacancy and so she took advantage of a six month policy that allows her to terminate without just cause. She used the fact that I couldn't completely understand these undocumented systems well enough to be an expert in 3 months as the official excuse, but anybody with half a brain could tell I got a raw deal. What's really sad is she could have just moved me to another team with a little effort and kindness on her part, but those would be the actions of someone who actually cares about the needs of others. My boss seemed to be someone who liked to surround herself with ordinary workers whose only purpose in life was to make her look extraordinary. As a representative of SAS, she has done her company and the reputation of ***** no favors at all.
Salary is lower than what you'd make at other private companies. Vacation time is slightly more than average, but if you have a bad boss it'll be like pulling teeth to get time off approved. You get free soda and crackers in the breakroom so don't be surprised if you gain more weight than you ever thought possible. You get your own office without windows, which will make you feel very isolated and alone from the world. SAS loves to brag about the 35 hour work week, but it doesn't really exist. All a 35 hour work week means is they'll not compensate you for all of the hours you work after that. They have technology that enables you to remote in to your machine from home. That means if you have a bad boss with nothing better to do, she will remote in from home constantly and then bless you out sporadically for not doing the same. They claim that nobody cares what time you get in as long as you get the work done. However, my boss would chew me out for being 5 minutes late. Basically the SAS Institute that Oprah and 60 Minutes did shows on is like an Elvis sighting. Everyone talks about it but it doesn't really exist.
favoritism
bad boss
no clear leadership
developers are good, but pitch against each other by management
managers listens to one person, then removes that person, then listens to somebody else, takes credit for the things the engineer did once he leaves
encourage one head working
no team work
no design or right approach
better developers
bad managers