Vantaggi
MDSL has been growing steadily and almost entirely organically since I have been here. It is family run and the owners manage the company conservatively and continuously reinvest into the business. They are committed to the business, employees and customers. There is investment in business growth, but not at the cost of risking the existing business. Part of the reason for MDSL's success is that it has a strong software engineering focus led from the core. The CEO built the initial version of the software, and the development team is passionate about software development. This means that MDSL keeps up with the trends in technology and stays at the forefront of its niche. There is an emphasis on growth within the company, and many of the senior staff have been with the company for a long time. There is some flexibility in working arrangements generally, particularly once someone has been with the company for a longer period of time. The work we are doing makes companies more efficient. We help our customers eliminate tedious manual work and allow them to focus on delivering value internally and saving money. We bring a better way of working to companies bit by bit. Part of the reason MDSL is a good place to work is because they are well placed in the industry niche they are in. We've been able to grow while other companies have struggled, which means that we find ourselves benefiting from problems facing many of our competitors. This growth has led to more opportunities within the company. Generally the company ethos is fairly laid back, but people are serious and committed to their work even if they don't wear a suit and tie to work. There are opportunities to learn about different areas of the business for those who are willing to put in the work and take them. MDSL is an internationally minded company with a good mix of people and a strong client base. It's a great opportunity to work with some household name international companies.
Svantaggi
Many of the challenges at MDSL come from the fact that many of our clients are large and often risk averse. At scale it's hard to manage the many competing demands of different customers and even when complete, changes in processes or software often take a while before they hit production and make a difference. It can be frustrating knowing that some changes will take months or years before they're effective. It's sometimes tough communicating across teams and offices. Management is generally fairly hands off. With growth there are a lot of newer employees joining. Overall this means that sometimes things fall between the cracks as processes and training catch up. There is some training, including formal training for staff, but for the most part this still relies on staff initiative rather than being encouraged by management. Because of the clientele we target, we sell a relatively small number of large solutions. This can mean work comes in chunks meaning that workload can be a bit lumpy - sometimes a little bit too much, sometimes a bit too little. The bread and butter of the company is telecom management and market data management, which aren't the most glamorous businesses. Not necessarily a con for all but often the work is more detailed and painstaking rather than exciting (well apart from maybe some of those big audit saves...).