Pros
Peers are awesome. I worked for 11 years in the company and you will rarely find a different place with as much accumulated talent. If you value working with highly qualified and engaged peers, this is a great place to be. And, quite frankly, an awesome jump board into a later career. Stars on career opportunity are NOT related to those inside of Avanade, but rather to post-Avanade growth.
Cons
Be sure that Avanade follows one prime value - making profit (and quite successfully). And that is on the back of its consultant. The career management is non-existent. Either you go after it yourself or you are doomed to fail. Promoted company values are a lip-service at the end of the day as many of the activities which they'd imply cannot be charged to a client and therefore are not desirable. Career Managers don't get any recognition out of their role, no time offset. So you might be lucky, or most likely not to have someone looking after your interest. "Retaining talent" has been put on the agenda, but even the most recent (and some impending) changes are in stark contrast as work-life balance isn't part of it, nor providing clear career-path options. On the paper yes, in practice there is little guidance or mentorship, nor the time allocated for more senior resources to invest in it. Senior Management has a strong tendency to consider themselves best at everything, which unfortunately leads to unprofessional decisions and a certain type of micro management. If you join the company, be sure to keep in mind that the company will not look after your interest, you'll have to do it yourself.
