Tech Types, tell me about work for a "managed service," company?
November 15, 2018 9:09 AM   Subscribe

I've been interviewed and am moving through the hiring process for a "managed service," IT company. They seem to have fingers in a lot of pies, cloud computing, eCommerce, QA, which is my department, etc. Can anybody with more experience tell me what it's like working for an org like this?

I've been told the position is full-time with benefits, working for a single (large) client. This leads me to believe/hope there will be at least some stability, and we won't suddenly lose the contract or something. The reviews on Glassdoor seem to be positive-ish, though they aren't stellar. I feel like a lot of people might have axes to grind.

I imagine that there isn't a lot of potential for growth in a setup like this, where I'm on a QA team, unless it be upwards to a leadership roll within the same team. My work experience thus far has been part-time at best, and I'm dreading some unforeseen event coming around to make that similarly the case here. I'd appreciate a little perspective :)
posted by Alensin to Work & Money (4 answers total)
 
Best answer: As general IT work goes, it's fine. They probably have more than one client, even if the current position is single-client support. It's a good early-mid career kind of place to be because you can move around and learn different products. If you've only ever worked part-time it seems like a good place to get experience.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:23 AM on November 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


It's really dependent on the specific company. In some cases they're great and do outsourced work that it doesn't make sense for their customers to dedicate resources to. In others, they sell shoddy services to clients that don't know better.

Do they seem like they're stretching themselves too thin? That would be one potential warning sign. Check forums and the like to see if there's any complaints by their customers.

As far as growth potential, you can use LinkedIn to see what roles their alumni have gone onto. There might not be great advancement for you there but after you get a year or two of full time work on your resume, moving elsewhere will be easier if need be.
posted by Candleman at 12:30 PM on November 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Do they seem like they're stretching themselves too thin?

This is the big thing to check. Glassdoor reviews are tricky because, as you say, there's often axe-grinding involved, but you should look for patterns around excessive hours or paid leave being denied or whatever.

Lateral career growth (i.e., not climbing up the management chain) in this industry generally involves moving to a different company no matter what, so don't sweat that part.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:49 PM on November 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


I work for a company that has a managed services contract with a Large Corporate Client. It's my third year in this contract, but my second time working for my employer. The first time around, my employer didn't have that kind of contract with this Large Corporate Client, so I was out of a job after 2 years. I would have been eligible to return after 90 days, but I ended up finding a different contract job at the same corporation, working for a company that DID have a managed services contract. I got to stay in that position for four years before that employer was forced to make some cuts in order to maintain its contract. Last I heard, that company no longer has the same managed services contract, so their status is kind of diminished.

Your mileage will vary according to the employer and the company you're contracted to, but for me the managed services contract my company has means I'm a full-time employee of my company with a comfortable salary, health/vision/dental plan, and vacation time including all the paid holidays the large corporation gives its full-time employees. It's a good gig.
posted by emelenjr at 6:45 PM on November 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


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