Pros
They hire a lot of GIS staff directly out of college. It's an ok to good place to start your career. I would never wish for a disaster but the work that comes with FEMA disaster response is probably the best opportunities for staff to grow their career. After about a year or so, the hours become pretty flexible. You still need to work 40+ billable hours but when they occur can be pretty dynamic and are able to change based on employee personal needs. This was the best perk about Dewberry If you're considering this position, go in with a plan to use it as a stepping stone to your next position in 1-3 years. Make the most of every opportunity but also know when to cut yourself off. For most of Dewberry's existence, you either become a PM or get out, senior technical staff were not valued.
Cons
Most GIS positions are not very technical. Whether it's floodplain maps, LiDAR, imagery, whatever, you are working in a production line producing widgets, it's not creative work. Dewberry is a constellation of business units, each one is different and basically their own company. Some are better than others. In turn, HR/corporate does not support you. Positive/negative reviews reflect that business unit and that business unit only. Dewberry will keep all of its offices no matter what, whether that's due to snow around headquarters in Fairfax or a hurricane is destroying the Gulf Coast. Employees were required to use their own leave during these events and then Dewberry would brag about employee leave sharing policies (employees donating vacation time so those affected by disaster won't lose a paycheck). Close the office and provide emergency leave to employees affected. Many long term, career employees have never been outside of Dewberry and do not know what else there is. Being the sole contractor/vendor on a federal program for 30 years only created tunnel vision and the inability to think differently or adapt. One direct result is that the federal program, largely staffed by former Dewberry employees, clearly did not like working with the Dewberry PM.