CodeHS Reviews

Founders, as CS grads, use code to solve almost every problem. The CEO will regularly deploy code to production, bypassing the engineering review process, so that he can present it at the hack-a-thon. As an engineer, you will spend time maintaining these kinds of applications, which are just less functional spreadsheets. Founders dismiss critical feedback as a "distracting and counterproductive". If you question an idea put forth by one of the founders, you will be reprimanded for "lacking alignment". (Quotes are from founders.) As an engineer, you will likely not develop transferrable skills on the job. The primary skill that impresses the founders is the ability to keep the entire system in your head. You will be explicitly encouraged NOT to refactor and NOT to write automated tests. As another engineer put it, "we just keep writing the Hello World of Django". Unfortunately the founders are not always truthful. This one is a bit sad to describe because they are generally fun people. During my interview process, we discussed a specific growth path; however, a month later they told me, "you want a position that we do not have". (Quote is from founders.) They will lowball your salary offer.

Where to start... The two founders - the current CEO and CTO - are comically unaware of how to run a company in today's world (and is also extremely apparent that they've never worked real jobs, and have only known this company from graduating college). From my first day to the last, I've been made painfully aware - through my own experiences and talking with others who are working there - how much of a dissonance there is between the workers and the leadership, especially ones working at the Chicago office. Around 80%-85% of the company currently works remotely, with the other ~20% working at the Chicago HQ office. This is in-person 5 days a week, with little to no benefits/differences in perks from the remote employees. The CEO is an unaware, micromanaging figurehead that consistently gets questioned and laughed at behind his back across the company - all warranted. Any valid criticism, questioning hypocritical policies, or general feedback about the company is thrown in the trash. The managers and directors - as well as the Head of Operations - are parrots for what he wants and says. There have been multiple cases of "perks" being offered and then changed, especially in the Chicago office. When you look at the rest of the remote employees and what they're allowed to do, the hypocrisy of Chicago office policies (five-day-a-week RTO for tenured employees who were previously hybrid, little to no flexibility for doctors appointments or life events, an overall lack of empathy or understanding) is salt in the wound for that group of employees, who are under an insane amount of scrutiny compared to the rest of the (remote) company. In terms of directors and managers, the quality will VERY much depend on the team/org you're on.