Pros
I liked the location of the office. The projects I worked on in Arcadis North America's Buried Infrastructure Practice Center (BIPC) were interesting. The Skyways of Minneapolis are returning to life!! Walking around the City at lunch time and to and from my car is a delight.
Cons
Please consider this post a 'warning buoy' about the WRPC. Only accept a position there as a short-term pivot to a better opportunity with a better firm. I was sold a bill of goods when hired; told I had a team of four but in reality had one PE (for a while) plus an EIT... then only the EIT. Arcadis expected me to secure projects in the Twin Cities despite having no local talent to do the work, then vilified me for failing to meet their expectations. We did put out proposals, and just as I warned, Arcadis was not hired because we'd have to ship in staff from other cities. The client feedback was exactly as I predicted: literally, "you don't have a team of local talent". After my 40 years of world-wide consulting engineering experience spanning four firms ranging in size from 25-37,000 people, including being an owner of one of those firms, I thought I had seen it all. But the level of incompetence on which WRPC operates day-to-day is unique. WRPC management doesn't listen to someone on the ground with experience, and they don't listen to their potential clients. In addition, for the past 20+ years, I have known the person who previously sat in my chair in WRPC. That person reported the same incompetent leadership before they left Arcadis. This is a systemic problem. At this point, not easily fixable. If the management of the WRPC continues to lead this way, Arcadis should just shut it down now. It's a waste of corporate treasure. The BIPC leadership is near retirement. Unfortunately it shows. Do not expect an interactive relationship. If you can be self-supporting, working in BIPC is okay. But BIPC is is siloed and not welcoming. If you like to work problems collaboratively, BIPC will not be pleasant for you. Also, BIPC staff are very inexperienced. Succession planning clearly did not exist in BIPC.
