Working in I.T (corporate). My view

[icawn]

This is my experience. Indeed, a positive one.

I was an intern at ERAC for a summer. I worked in I.T. I worked in a department of ~25 people, on a small team of 4. I spent half of the internship at corporate and the other half at Weldon Springs (my idea, my choice), which is where the data center and the rest of the I.T. department is located.

I searched this forum for an hour, and in that hour, I found 98% of the complaints to be from the branches of ERAC, what I'll refer to as the field. I don't really know anything about the field.

My day consisted of putting on a suit and heading to the office. I usually did not wear the jacket. No, I never wore a white shirt. At Weldon, no one wears a suit (unless they've come from corporate that day). I did not arrive at the same time every morning. I showed up when I wanted to, to a reasonable extent, as long as I was there for meeting times. No problem, as long as I performed my 8 hours per day. This was not because I was an intern, either. Same terms for everyone else in my department.

I'm a pretty laid back guy. I am not a work-aholic. I am not a dork type. I scored in the interview. I scored on my team. I made a lot of friends there. Sure, there were a few white-shirt stiffs around, but that occurs anywhere you go. Maybe I was the type of kid who helped people relax? I don't know. But, I liked working there. The people around me seemed to like working there. I became pretty close with a couple guys and girls, even to the point where we hung out after work and one showed me their new house. I went to happy hour with some guys after work fairly often. I played sports after work with them. There were many team lunches, official as well as unofficial. There are many company gatherings and parties, free beer etc. Oh and here's a good bit of into i'm sure will interest you. No one talks about it, but it really doesn't matter. The starting pay there for I.T. is not below what it should be, mid $40k to $55k, which is what you would expect for the midwest. Interns earn $14/hr. So, you have the potential to earn quite a bit.

I did my job, and did it well. I learned a lot and very thankful for the experience. The HR was very nice to me. I was always genuine and never acted like a stiff. They liked me a lot. Will I work there after college? I don't know. I'd like to get more experience from other places first. They were never racist. The majority of the people I conversed with on a daily basis were of a minority. Very cool people.

This message is longer than I expected, but, this board seriously lacks feedback for corporate I.T. I feel this is because the people there are generally happy with their positions. I'm sure it's not perfect here with all of I.T. Since I was only there for 3 months. I'm sure people have had bad experiences too, as with any company. You may come accross a newly hired, unfair manager/lead, etc.. If that happens, you have the option to transfer departments if you really wish to. Be cool about it and don't let it ruin your life. If you're actually good at your job, there shouldn't really be much of an issue. My superiors had been there for years and were awesome people.

I am sorry there are so many in the field who are or were unhappy. No one likes washing cars and cleaning up after disgusting people. I know people like to treat rental cars like shit. For anyone looking at ERAC in I.T., however, I encourage you to check it out. You may like it a lot. Hope my info has helped someone.

If someone is reading and has an experience with I.T. as well, please post it. I'd rather no one fill this thread thread with field branch experiences. There are enough of those already. Peace

[Robert]

Originally Posted by icawn

This is my experience. Indeed, a positive one.

I was an intern at ERAC for a summer. I worked in I.T. I worked in a department of ~25 people, on a small team of 4. I spent half of the internship at corporate and the other half at Weldon Springs (my idea, my choice), which is where the data center and the rest of the I.T. department is located.

I searched this forum for an hour, and in that hour, I found 98% of the complaints to be from the branches of ERAC, what I'll refer to as the field. I don't really know anything about the field.

My day consisted of putting on a suit and heading to the office. I usually did not wear the jacket. No, I never wore a white shirt. At Weldon, no one wears a suit (unless they've come from corporate that day). I did not arrive at the same time every morning. I showed up when I wanted to, to a reasonable extent, as long as I was there for meeting times. No problem, as long as I performed my 8 hours per day. This was not because I was an intern, either. Same terms for everyone else in my department.

I'm a pretty laid back guy. I am not a work-aholic. I am not a dork type. I scored in the interview. I scored on my team. I made a lot of friends there. Sure, there were a few white-shirt stiffs around, but that occurs anywhere you go. Maybe I was the type of kid who helped people relax? I don't know. But, I liked working there. The people around me seemed to like working there. I became pretty close with a couple guys and girls, even to the point where we hung out after work and one showed me their new house. I went to happy hour with some guys after work fairly often. I played sports after work with them. There were many team lunches, official as well as unofficial. There are many company gatherings and parties, free beer etc. Oh and here's a good bit of into i'm sure will interest you. No one talks about it, but it really doesn't matter. The starting pay there for I.T. is not below what it should be, mid $40k to $55k, which is what you would expect for the midwest. Interns earn $14/hr. So, you have the potential to earn quite a bit.

I did my job, and did it well. I learned a lot and very thankful for the experience. The HR was very nice to me. I was always genuine and never acted like a stiff. They liked me a lot. Will I work there after college? I don't know. I'd like to get more experience from other places first. They were never racist. The majority of the people I conversed with on a daily basis were of a minority. Very cool people.

This message is longer than I expected, but, this board seriously lacks feedback for corporate I.T. I feel this is because the people there are generally happy with their positions. I'm sure it's not perfect here with all of I.T. Since I was only there for 3 months. I'm sure people have had bad experiences too, as with any company. You may come accross a newly hired, unfair manager/lead, etc.. If that happens, you have the option to transfer departments if you really wish to. Be cool about it and don't let it ruin your life. If you're actually good at your job, there shouldn't really be much of an issue. My superiors had been there for years and were awesome people.

I am sorry there are so many in the field who are or were unhappy. No one likes washing cars and cleaning up after disgusting people. I know people like to treat rental cars like shit. For anyone looking at ERAC in I.T., however, I encourage you to check it out. You may like it a lot. Hope my info has helped someone.

If someone is reading and has an experience with I.T. as well, please post it. I'd rather no one fill this thread thread with field branch experiences. There are enough of those already. Peace

Are you an ERAC mole?

[yambag]

good informative post
i've known a few people to work in IT for ERAC and their experience was pleasureable
but don't get it twisted, rental sucks major cack and everyone hates it.
a IT intern making 14 an hour is making the equalivent to what a BM makes hourly.
pretty sad, considering the BM is working overtime to make 14-16 an hour

[bill_and_paystub]

Wow, 14 bucks an hour as an intern, and RALPH is still the best that ERAC IT can come up with? Don't those computers still run on, like, Windows 98? I think my dial-up AOL in 1996 was faster than those pieces of shit - not that anyone below BM had internet access anyway.

[Robert]

Originally Posted by bill_and_paystub

Wow, 14 bucks an hour as an intern, and RALPH is still the best that ERAC IT can come up with? Don't those computers still run on, like, Windows 98? I think my dial-up AOL in 1996 was faster than those pieces of shit - not that anyone below BM had internet access anyway.

The kid was brainwashed, perfect ERAC material.

[icawn]

No, I do not work for enterprise. ~Two years ago, I worked there for the summer as an intern. I am merely sharing my honest experience. No, i'm not brainwashed. I'd like to think i'm quite down to earth and intelligent. Not that any of this really matters, but since you asked, their boxes were all set up with XP, not 98. They have a couple computer labs for visitors and visiting employees. The lab computers are a bit older but still use XP. My computer was new and fast. I do not know anything about RALPH. I worked on another application.

I've had another summer internship at another company, as well. I prefer enterprise over that particular company, actually. No matter how bad you may think a company is, there is always somewhere worse. I was not twisting anything; I stated that my viewpoint specifically concerned IT, not the rental branches. I'm still hoping others have an IT experience to share, bad or good, rather than just criticism.