Vantaggi
It's a relaxed working environment, and there are enough key people who are forward-thinking and really care in the IT department to give hope for the future. There is enough good technology to work on to be technically challenged and implement good things. The agency's web applications have millions of users, with several thousand concurrent users, and they perform well. The networks and hardware are excellent too.
Svantaggi
The technology is divided between the old (Mainframe, Cobol, Natural) and the new (Java, Unix/Linux, OO). It is generally accepted that the agency is transitioning from old to new, so that's a good thing. But the IT management is mainly from the old technology side, and they lack the knowledge to know what to do with new technology. Even though there are some people who demonstrate the technology possibilities every day, the management still makes horrible, short-sighted decisions, and they are susceptible to fast-talking technology vendors with their silver-bullet solutions that always turn into huge disasters. Others in management are just looking forward to retirement and don't seem to care, or they don't want to make a decision that might "rock the boat". Another problem is the salaries in the IT department are considered lower than even other Texas agencies.