Vantaggi
Very talented people work here to learn from.
Svantaggi
You'll often here the organization claim to be "flat" - meaning you can take your concerns and voice them to senior leadership - but it couldn't be further from the truth. The hierarchy others have mentioned, favoritism, and value only being given to senior positions make this a tough place for junior staff with little upward mobility or care for your quality of life - you are replaceable. A common complaint across teams was that the managers are highly intelligent but lack the training to be people managers. I had a terrible relationship with my manager, as had past people in my position and any other staff who interacted with my manager - my manager was never trained to be a manager, had no vision for the team, behaved unethically in more than one occasion, and yet was well-connected to senior leadership and continued to take on new staff and opportunities. On my small salary I worked 60+ hours a week on average, had no opportunities for advancement, and despite complaints from multiple people to HR and senior leadership about my manager, nothing changed. Across the group I worked in, 90% quit within the same year all with similar complaints about leadership, yet nothing was changed because there are enough entry-level people in the DC workforce looking for jobs.