Pros
None except pay rate for contractors and 2 months off without pay
Cons
I had a disappointing experience working within the CSBI team. The overall environment was highly disorganized, with limited technical leadership or process discipline. There is a clear lack of understanding of data engineering principles at both the management and director levels. Tools like Power BI are misused as glorified spreadsheets, and the codebase is poorly structured and difficult to maintain.
The team operates without basic software development practices—there is no source control, no separate development or QA environments, and all work is done directly in production. SQL Server is used without proper deployment pipelines or change management protocols, and multiple people log in to the same remote server, which leads to frequent breakages and instability.
Operations are reactive rather than planned. There is no clear ownership, and when issues arise, the culture quickly shifts toward finger-pointing rather than problem-solving. Requirements are often unclear and frequently change without documentation or communication. Production support lacks monitoring, logging, or alerting, making it risky and error-prone.
Agile practices are not followed, despite the use of tools like Jira. There’s no sprint planning, backlog grooming, or estimation—only ad hoc assignments and daily “work sessions” that add little value. Technical debt is significant, and there is minimal focus on maintainability or scalability.
Culturally, there are serious challenges with communication and time management. Meetings often lack purpose, and respect for individuals’ time is inconsistent. Unfortunately, professional growth opportunities are very limited in this environment, and the lack of structured mentorship or learning makes it difficult to develop or apply industry-standard skills.
In summary, this may not be the right place for someone looking to build their career in data engineering using modern best practices. There is very limited potential, but major organizational and technical reforms would be needed to turn things around.
There is a significant opportunity for improvement in leadership and team management. Directors and managers would benefit from training in both technical competencies and effective team leadership. One-on-one meetings with employees should be meaningful and geared toward mentorship, development, and open communication.
It’s also important for leadership to take ownership and establish well-defined processes, including proper SDLC practices, change management, and production support protocols.
Regarding individual conduct: Certain team members, particularly in database administration, have displayed behavior that is consistently unprofessional and counterproductive to a healthy work culture. Addressing toxic or abrasive conduct should be a priority, as it directly impacts morale, collaboration, and retention.