Vantaggi
You get excellent exposure to household name engineering companies. There is no shortage of things to work on (both a pro and a con). The people are generally lovely and have a good sense of teamwork. It’s a good place to get engineering experience and skills. My advice for recent graduates is to leverage this: join the company, learn lots, get some engineering experience in. Opportunities for moving up are decent if you’re a high caliber engineer - but that is due to a high turnover rate (see cons).
Svantaggi
The first and largest downside to working at Alten is the salary. It is low for the UK. Salary increases for stellar performances are low. Working for the OEMs you are a consultant for would net you a higher salary. Tenures tend to be short. Most people don’t seem to stay longer than 2 years. As mentioned in the pros, there is no shortage of work, which means you will be busy and there will be very few breaks in terms of workload. It’s a fast-paced environment with little time for respite. Due to not being an OEM, the company culture felt very corporate and clinical. There was no feeling of pride for working for Alten, whereas working for OEMs will involve a better culture.