programmer analyst

maintenance technician

associate engineer

systems administrator

senior administrator

Advanced Technology Services

I gained a lot of skill in IT as part of the ATS service desk, but only because I pushed myself to solve problems, learn how systems actually work, improve documentation, and take on responsibilities within the IT service desk. 

Some of the most frustration parts of working at ATS:
• Poorly developed "one size fits all" training plan for new agents and inconsistent documentation with a wide range in quality. 
• High staff turnover - there is little incentive for talented agents to stay for more than 6-12 months, and few internal promotion opportunities.
• Management has too much pressure to risk breaching SLA's, and as a result, agents with poor work ethics who receive frequent customer complaints remain employed for multiple years, and rarely are given more than just a slap on the wrist.
• On multiple occasions, I voluntarily suggested detailed plans to members of upper management which could improve our internal processes, reduce headaches and extra/manual work, would utilize existing tools (i.e. cost no extra money)...yet I was always brushed off with an excuse (paraphrased) of "we'll look into that down the road" or "we're focused on other priorities currently" or "thanks for suggestion, but we'll need a different team to put [solution] together, because we need your focus instead on tickets/calls/helping team members"

I generally give a benefit of the doubt to business operations, but with ATS, there is a concerning lack of awareness from leadership. Site leadership is extremely disconnected and makes no effort to talk to their employees to understand the state of the workplace; talking to the same 5 people is not an effective method of getting your information.

 I have found it extremely distasteful that there are constant issues of people talking about their inability to afford living. Yet, now, we are seeing job postings for starting wages that employees of 5+ years don't make after accruing raises from their original starting wage. 

If you are considering joining the ATS 'community', know that you are not the concern of this family. You will not be built up to inherit a higher position, you will not have a feeling of satisfaction from your work and you will not see acknowledgement for your hard work. No, you will be overlooked at every turn because a new hire will always be cheaper when positions are available. Do not bother seeking cross-training or going above and beyond your basic responsibilities, you will burn yourself out trying to obtain any beneficial recognition from such things. 

This company has become a malformed abomination that has driven away its talent in droves due to the blatant mishandling of employees and their potential. Seek better opportunity elsewhere.

 At first it was a great place to work. Management understood of a disability I have and worked with me so it did not effect my work. We are required to take numerous online courses on wellbeing and they seemed to care. Then it slowly started going down hill. Today local Management doesn't care about the employees wellbeing and could care less if you have any type of disability.  There is a lot of favoritism that goes on so the saying is true, it's  ot what you know it's who you know. Management likes to leave most techs in the dark and tell not so true things to them when asked. I have seen several very good techs leave because of how management treats people taking some very valuable experience with them.  I had planned on making this my last job until retirement but it's not worth the stress and the damage it is doing to my health. I can not with a clear conscience recommend this company as a good place to work. It's a shame because there was a lot of potential and a great group of techs but management values none of them except the handful they take very good care of. Also if you work here you are completely on your own, no HR on site and corporate HR doesn't seem to care what is going on.

A typical day at work begins with the site manager gloating about how successful they are doing when in reality they are a bunch of entry leveled, low skilled dog-eat-dog want-a-be mechanics who have continuous repeat failure calls to the same thing while nobody is held accountable. The site manager also talks on and on and on and on about a bunch of pencil whipped numbers and statistics that are all doctored to look good for his corporate leveled bosses. The biggest problem is that anyone with solid skills is run off while we have the blind leading the blind. All skilled technicians are passed over through time, the lower talent seems to get away with everything because they are more guaranteed to stay. 

I don't want to look like the guy that runs down former employers, but, this is what it is.  ATS is a staffing company.  They put on a good show, until you look behind the curtain.  They make their money off the difference between what companies are willing to pay, and what the lowest bottom dollar is they can hire someone for without regard to expertise.  As  an employee, per a former Caterpillar President, you are "the buffer between the direct employees and the recession."  ATS management was weaselly, saying they would do one thing then inserting surprise exceptions into why things would not be happening.  They have a history of doing wholesale layoffs then reclassifying jobs and offering them back to former employees for less than what they were earning before.  They also have a history of having an experienced employee unknowingly train his replacement.   So, if you must put food on the table, these guys are not terrible to work for.  On the other hand, if you want stable employment from people you can trust, this is not the company for you.

I’d be willing to give ATS another shot at giving me the training I need, because when I was laid off, the techs that got hired after me actually were given training(even though I was hired before them). The Site Supervisor became more aware of new tech’s lack of training after hiccups on production floor. Site Supervisor appointed me to conduct all PDM maintenance, but wouldn’t keep me, because he never gave me the training I needed to be a Floor Maintenance Technician and was forced to lay me off because of production circumstances. Supervisors seemed over stressed. New Supervisors didn’t stay, for the time I was there-complained about ATS versus Facility Management (ATS techs held to higher standards than facility set-ups/team leads/operators). I would definitely need to learn the Symantecs of daily operation. I’d work here again.

It was a very Challenging Job. My only reservation is how much of a turn over rate for Site managers. They "threw away" a lot of high quality employees, just an opinion. This is not a job for those who are just learning the ropes, but I feel I learned a lot in a short time. Most Site managers do not last longer than a year, it's actually in their training when you go to it at their corporate office. They laugh it off and it does not give you a warm feeling about the Company initially. I am glad I did not relocate my whole family, because I felt that if I didn't "survive" my first year, I would be able to at least keep my family stable. 

If you have a manufacturing back ground already, you may do well, but this job will demand a lot of hours, after work, weekends, you name it. Given the pay to hours worked, it really does not balance out. I got paid well, but not well enough to work 60-80 hours a week and have the kind of pressure I had...All that said, it was a great learning experience.

Come in in the morning, if I was on call last night, may have some tickets to followup on. That is the first thing I do. Then look at the queue for tickets that have been escalated to my team. Start with the critical ones (such network is down, unable to connect to network, website not working, unable to make calls, no dialtone, a lot of static in the phone, phone not registering etc) meanwhile communicating with my teammates if any of them is working on a particular ticket. After the critical ones I start working on the normal ones, after that update the ones that need updates, such as calling the ISP for updates in a certain issue or follow up with customers. Break for lunch. After lunchTeam meeting, work on a project such as configure a switch for a site or configure a wireless accesspoint for a site. Finally, before the end of day make sure all pending tickets are updated. If on call again not forgetting that cell phone - end of day.

No value to employees, no care for career goals or previous experience. A contracted maintenance company that brags about skill level and experience and then cares only about the money from the customer. Will throw whatever person they have to under the bus to keep the customer happy. Very clique oriented with management who spend zero time on-site or around the technicians. All training and previous experience as a technician mean nothing to them or the customer. Had a senior technician with 30+ years experience get treated worse than an apprentice and was used as a push button operator by  the customer until he had finally had enough of being mocked and criticized and not taken seriously. He was then let go for having a bad attitude. If you dont negotiate your contract correctly, they will screw you over in any way they can and just put a new body in your place. No morals, No values, not worth it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They will train you up if you are new.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything other than the root of the job itself.  Trying to make two employers happy at the same time is tough.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Where I was at it was TOXIC.  No one is upfront and you constantly have to read between the lines with just about everything that spews from managements mouth.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You show up and get your orders from your leads or planner scheduler.  You then check your email.  If there is nothing that's broke or your lead doesn't send you to fix something, you continue down your list.  You'll constantly have everyone and there brother asking you for help but unless your lead tells you fix it or management, you are to continue with your list and have your lead figure out the rest.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Programmer analyst 4 salaries reported	$55,100 per year
Maintenance technician 3 salaries reported	$29.00 per hour
Associate engineer 3 salaries reported	$63,667 per year
Systems administrator 1 salary reported	$82,500 per year
Senior administrator 1 salary reported	$105,000 per year

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