There were a multitude of things they failed to mention that would have a day-to-day impact on a developer in the engineering department. Most of these points can be expanded upon, but I’ll be brief.
Firstly, [overwhelming] technical debt. For a company so young, there are some pretty bad architectural decisions coupled with niche unsupported frameworks. There is also a lack of dev ops infrastructure. These are problems you will have to live with, and you will not be given enough time to fix any of it, do not try as it will get you into trouble, as a saw with another dev that was let go.
Secondly, you’re going to be working closely with Motili’s [primary] team, which is located in Bangkok, Thailand. That will require either waiting a day to hear back from them if you have questions, or speaking to them early in the morning or late at night. This made communication difficult and was made worse by just how closely you will work together on projects.
Thirdly, the growing pains. The old VP of Engineering and CEO left a few months after I started, whom I had positive opinions of. Since I had worked there handfuls of people had quit or been fired. Processes had changed, flip-flopped and changed again. You will be expected to adhere to every change or face being berated/reprimanded.
Fourthly, management/leadership...and this one is a tough one for me, because I personally respected the people before they were promoted to development leadership roles. However, the stress of the responsibilities, and lack of experience clearly changed their behavior. I had been berated multiple times in front of my coworkers for minor inconveniences to their day. I faced nothing but hostility in the final weeks of my employment. I was not the only developer that dealt with this either.
I achieved a lot and made some good work relationships while I worked for Motili despite these glaring problems, but will never forget how poorly I was treated by management when I was let go. I don’t recommend taking a senior job on their development team unless you have no other alternatives.
