Pros
After nine months of working at Audatex, it continues to be a pleasure to come to work every day. I have the opportunity to guide an architecturally sound Java/JEE web-based platform with emerging opportunities for mobile development. The platform is developed globally with an emphasis on open source and solid technical best practices. The opportunity to work with a fun, close team of full time, local, Java developers, and extend my experience to work globally with other full-time, in-house, developers on a revenue generating, commercial software platform does not happen too frequently given trends to buy solutions (whether they fit or not) or outsource the work. At the end of each day, I can reflect back that I had a lot of fun with everyone at work, including developers, qa, business analysts, product management, and executive management. And even beyond a great work environment, I work at a place where the voice of the technical side is not only heard, but respected as well. Audatex is a great place for hard-core, open source Java developers that want to write professional code and gain experiences that will grow their careers. I can certainly say for myself that even after over fifteen years in technology in multiple roles, that I am growing and learning technically and managerially and am very much encouraged to take on more challenges that will reward me and grow my career. I really could not have made a better choice.
Cons
Any company culture can grow and improve. The more important point is whether the need for change and growth is not only recognized, but actually executed upon. I can say that at Audatex challenges exist, but the challenges are recognized as areas for growth, and executive management does act upon them. One growth area at Audatex pertains to working with product management as we migrate to a new, Java-based platform with a noticeably different architecture and design philosophy. Both product management and the technical side work hard to understand how to bridge from old to new and bring a new product to market in a short time, in a competitive space. While this can lead to some stress, the tensions are professional and healthy, and as a result, architects, developers, and others have a great opportunity to distinguish themselves with their business acumen and their analytical and technical skills.