Pros
The people you get to work with are great.
Cons
I really want to write a 16-page review on how bad it was, but literally everything in the previous 1-star reviews are true. The 5-star are obviously written by the staff at the command of the CEO. So, I will just summarize and affirm the former reviews. These points all revolve around Raja the CEO: - He is a TERRIBLE communicator. Maybe the worst I’ve ever met in a leadership position. This is one of the biggest issues in the company and there is too much to write, but he’s one of those “I’ll know it when I see it.” type of people. He’s unable to clearly communicate what he wants, but gets furious when it’s not delivered to him in the exact manner that he had in his head. This usually leads to weeks of wasted work and in the end he does everything himself….and it’s almost always worse than the original because he doesn’t have the kind of time needed to make something of quality. Then he gives ownership of his newly formed turd back to you and expects you to know where he was going with it. After that you're usually expected to work on it for a couple weeks only to ultimately be told it’s trash and go through the cycle again. Asking any questions about requirements gets condescending answers like “I can’t do your job for you”. I know people at the company who would do their work a few hours before it was due because they knew he was going to tear it apart no matter what it looked like. I was there about 1.5 years and I literally never saw him accept anything from anyone on the first submission…nothing. And yes, everything goes through him to be approved by him (and then he complains that everything is garbage and the company doesn’t look professional but thinks it has nothing to do with him lol). - His behavior towards me felt abusive. He is constantly gaslighting people. He tears people down publicly and will occasionally “love bomb” you (about how good your work is) in private, only to humiliate you in a call full of peers. Being that he was in a position of power and authority over me as my CEO, his actions towards me showed me he never considered or respected my professional goals, my mental health, my feelings, my family, my down time, my finances, etc. - He seems to have a very hard time managing his emotions and outbursts of rage are frequent. He threatens to fire people often. He changes people's salaries and job titles (yes, really). When he decides he doesn't like someone anymore he will make their life miserable so they quit (he calls it "managing people out"). If they don't quit he gives impossible tasks that they couldn't possibly accomplish given the resources available to them. Then he changes people's title and/or cuts their salary and tries to make it seem like it was because they weren't performing. Out of everything wrong with the company, this is probably the worst. Literally everyone walks around with their head down like an abused dog. - He preys on super vulnerable people. Almost everyone at the company is there because they HAVE to be, not because they have options. He usually only hires fresh grads from Pakistan and India or slightly experienced people in the US who are on H-1B visas. He hires people on visas so they’re desperate and rely on him and have a hard time quitting (so he can treat you however he wants). - He has NO idea what he wants. None. He will give you a task and say that it’s priority#1. Then a week later switch you to another project with the same level of urgency, instructing you to drop everything and do this new task. Then come back 3 weeks later and ask you why the first project isn’t done. - He berates people…but only in front of a crowd. He calls people on the carpet in front of 5-10 of their peers and humiliates them. He does it to everyone. If you end up working here, this WILL happen to you multiple times. I've never seen anyone escape this form of treatment. Just try to remember that it's not your fault, this is just how he is. - He micromanages EVERYTHING. Literally everything needs approval. I’ve seen him ask a Senior Data Scientist with 8+ years of experience to send him his emails for approval before he sends them out. What kind of CEO has time to nitpick a senior data scientist’s emails?! - Nothing is formal within the company. No formal raises. No salary structure. No training. No onboarding. The company has been around for ~10-years but still operates like it was founded last week. - He tells a ton of lies when you’re hired. Like he’s getting ready to get acquired and he might be giving equity soon. There are retirement matching plans “in the works”, and lots of other lies about non-existent perks. These things never happen. Expect any "perks" to be the legal minimum and bottom of the barrel. -You’re expected to be available ALL THE TIME. Nights, weekends, holidays. Doesn’t matter. He works probably 12-16 hours a day 7-days a week (yes, really). So he thinks you should too. He wants people to care about his company as much as he does. Honestly, this is probably why he is the way he is. He’s long overdue for a break. - Tons of turnover. The company had 30-35 people in it when I started and probably like 30 when I left but I probably saw 30-40 people quit or get fired. If I had to guess it was probably like 2-4 people per month on average. That makes it hard to build a decent team. There is so much more but I won’t go into it. If you’re thinking about working here and value your mental health, you should stay away. The company is headquartered in the US but it does not operate like one. If his customers could see the way he treats his employees I guarantee they would go out of business.
