Pros
The experience helped me learn what I want to avoid in a future workplace.
Cons
I honestly struggled to find many positives about my experience. The owner was unpredictable and could quickly turn a normal day into a stressful one. Employees were expected to deal with the fallout while management carried on as if nothing happened. Pay was disappointing, benefits were limited, and it often seemed like keeping costs low mattered more than taking care of the people doing the work. Advancement rarely went to the most deserving employees. Being connected to the right people seemed to matter far more than performance or effort.
The workload was another major issue. Long hours became normal, and personal time was often sacrificed to keep up with demands. There was very little respect for work life balance, especially when client requests piled up. Burnout was common, and employees were simply expected to keep pushing through it.
What more frustrating was the gap between what the company said and what it actually did. Leadership loved talking about growth and big ideas, but daily operations told a different story. Teams worked in silos and collaboration was far weaker than advertised. A lot of effort went into appearances while many internal problems were ignored.
In the end, employees were treated more like numbers than people. Contributions went unnoticed, morale stayed low, and the culture became increasingly difficult to tolerate. The company spent a lot of time promoting itself as a great place to work, but that image did not match my experience. Looking back, I wish I had paid closer attention to the warning signs before joining.