Prós
It's really hard to think of anything positive about this company.
Contras
I worked here and then moved to another engineering company in the GTA, and didn't realise how bad RVA was until I left. It's a sweatshop run by some very morally corrupt people. You are expected to work 10-12 hour days and your commitment and dedication is questioned if not. Management is totally incompetent, they are well meaning and believe they are doing the right things to be a successful engineering company but they are so out of touch with the current best practices in both business and engineering. I also witnessed some unethical behaviour to win jobs, multiple workplace bullying incidents, creepy manager behaviour towards women and some concerning scientific opinions (ie. Climate change denial). A good engineering company should be a place of innovation and creativity, but this is a place that prides itself on cut and pasting designs from previous projects. In the near future most of RVA's ideal employees could likely be replaced by quality AI software. The biggest eye opener was meeting with a client who previously worked at RVA. Management would say horrible things about these ex-RVA employees turned clients, criticising their technical abilities and then be really nice to them in person because they are the client. One client (who I barely knew) took me aside once and said that based on the questions I raised in a meeting (just politely flagging some basic engineering flaws in the managers off the cuff 'sales pitch') he felt my talent was wasted at RVA. It was a strange moment but I'm so thankful I took his advice and left. Employee turnover here is very high. A friend left on maternity leave said she barely recognized anyone when she returned after one year. I could go on and on, but in short, it's a terrible place to work. If you have no other options, I would consider working here and keep applying to the global engineering companies with GTA offices. Most people leave to go there, and every ex-RVA person I know is so much happier there. I really sorry for those who get stuck there thinking things will get better once they get shares, unfortunately they don't.