Academy is like a rotten Orange; beautiful on the outside and ___ on the inside.
Pros
It was a mixed bag at ASO. I left in 2024. Overall impression was a net-negative experience. What would get -you- firmly planted on a PIP, your supervisor will be able to get away with, no friction applied. People often are promoted to their level of incompetence. Subterfuge and deception between departments is common...and enforced. If you don't participate in the games, you're going to be punished. Yes, I'm aware you're still reading the "pro's". There are no pro's in the accurate sense of that word. These are just the less-bads.
Cons
Okay, corporate nepotism (friends of leaders get promoted; outsiders get ignored or set-up to fail), mild racism, and the aggrandizement of incompetence/poor decisions is par for the course. New workers are nearly always paid more than tenured ones. The whole bonus situation was tenuous (I left before my annual bonus got paid out in the spring, but I heard that most people did not get one). If you need anything done in the tech stack.....it's not going to happen. It just won't. You'll get bullied for "wHaT's YoUr rOi?!?!?" and if it's too high they will accuse you of lying....too low, and you just won't make the cut. If the tech folks ever do make it around to your project, they are going to do it incorrectly, and then refuse to fix it. All in all, I remain surprised they turn a profit each year. I left for another large firm in the Houston area and I do not regret getting out. Oh and they do not pay out any of your PTO or Sick time. It all evaporates the moment you give your notice (I gave 3 weeks). You read that right; not your last day.....the day you give your courtesy notice to them.Your health benefits also stop on the last day of the last pay period. ASO pays every two weeks, so it's not a lot of time to plan. Thankfully my husband was able to get me on his.