Pros
work from home in your pajamas, no travel, can come into the office in pajamas
Cons
I'll preface this by saying this was the absolute worst experience I have ever had with an employer, and that includes waitressing in college. The cons fall into 4 categories and add up to being a bad place to work. THE WORK: The company has an established product in a niche market with little, if any competition. When a bug pops up in the software, whoever is available fixes it. That really is it. There are no alternate streams of business, no plans for expansion (not that regular employees would know - see "Management"), no growth, opportunities to learn, etc. We fix bugs in our product. The end. if you are looking to be a part of something exciting, this is definitely not it. If you are looking to expand your skill set - also not it. THE TOOLS: Ridiculous. There are dozens, literally dozens of separate and unhelpful tools - one to praise your colleagues, one to post an idea, and a bunch to ask a question. Email is not used, and its use discouraged (see "Fitting In"). Communication is done by IM, which has a whopping 80+ chat rooms dedicated to supposedly separate topics, not to mention the 1:1 IMs. It's impossible to find anything or to follow up, and there is no such thing as professional communication, tasking, etc. The incessant chatter is overwhelming. A lot of it is pointless - baby pictures, stupid memes, references to TV shows. It is very important to post just the right amount of Star Wars references and kitten videos. Again, see "Fitting In." IM-ing in a way that isn't "right" is very bad. Obviously there is no definition or explanation of how to use this "right" - people who get it, just "get it." People who don't, aren't a "fit." THE MANAGEMENT: This is a family business, in the worst sense. I have never had a job where no one on the management team took any interest in me whatsoever or bothered to welcome or include me in any way at all. There is a general annoyance with questions, anything that could indicate that a new employee "doesn't get it" and what seems to be an expectation of mind reading. "Girlie" functions alike HR and accounting are farmed out to wives and relatives of the owners, with obvious results. There are no processes or standard operating procedures, and contrary to lip service, no desire for any. More than one person is hired for 1 role and then whoever isn't the "winner" is fired. With no vacation accrual, good luck! I truly have no idea why I was hired - my "competitor" was part of the network so was the obvious choice. It was never made clear, even though I asked repeatedly, what exactly I was supposed to be doing. Only family knows anything. FITTING IN: This is really the only thing that matters and also an impossibility unless you are already a relative or friend of several people who work here. At first it seems easy - everyone's wearing pajama bottoms and vintage band tees. Plus you're hired, so they must like you. Right? But upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that only certain types of cartoons or kitten videos or whatever are "a fit." Figuring out how exactly to fit in, IM, and ironically comment in chats to be acceptable only to be told that you're not doing it right - as an adult! at work! is laughable. The fact that your career and family financial security depends not on your work or integrity but on some tenuous perception of your dorkiness-but-kinda-coolness-in-a-hipster-wannabe-way was incredibly stressful and demoralizing. Absolutely awful work environment.
