Pros
Some of the engineers were actually competent and didn't make everything about politics, which honestly was the only saving grace.
Cons
They sold me the vision in interviews – scaling, real mentorship, building actual architecture instead of constant firefighting – and I believed them because they seemed to mean it. First few months you think it's real, then you realize it's just the recruiting pitch. You're doing the same exhausting work they promised was temporary, watching junior people leave because there's no clear path forward, and every conversation about the future loops back to the same constraints. Two years of that grinds you down. By the end you stop taking anything leadership says seriously, which is depressing because you actually wanted this to work out.