Pros
Some of my colleagues were very nice and I look forward to remaining in contact with them after we left the company.
I feel wiser now for going through the experience of working for Daisy Chain Autism and Neurodiversity Charity. I've learned a lot about myself, patience, and bringing a healthy amount of emotional detachment to my career; and it's opened my eyes to the factors that create a difficult working environment.
Cons
The upper management at the company are very gifted with the ability to speak persuasively and win you over to their ideas. When I was considering taking the job, it sounded to me like they'd got everything figured out and that the plan for the project was all under control.
The team was often challenged by not having enough equipment or resources to effectively do the job they had been given; and after long waits for new equipment to be purchased, what we were given was poor quality and difficult to use.
Deadlines changed many times and tasks that we spend a long time on sometimes went to waste, largely due to management changing their minds at late stages.
I saw three other team members choose to leave the company in the time I was there because the environment felt oppressive. Communication from the upper management was sparse and ineffective, and in my view they seemed unaware or unconcerned with the issues we were facing.
There appears to be a serious issue with over-reliance on Artificial Intelligence. Many tasks traditionally done by employees was handled using AI to varying degrees of success. The use of AI felt unnecessary since other team members were very qualified to do the same jobs more reliably. This made the project feel unprofessional and made myself feel like my skills and abilities were undervalued.