Pros
On the plus side, you learn a lot very quickly (even as an entry level hire) because you’re compensating for the lack of skill of your bosses. There is also a somewhat social culture (depending on your team) and unlimited free beer & snacks
Cons
The incompetence of middle management is astounding. With the erroneous title of “senior managers“, 99% of them have almost zero management, technical, or communication skills (and no experience either, which makes the lack of skill unsurprising...also begs the question how & why they were hired). Beyond this, most of them have no clear mandate and the purpose of their jobs seems superfluous - almost all of the ones I observed detracted from their teams’ value & productivity, and they are the reason most analysts/senior analysts leave within ~1 year. Even the founders acknowledge that at any given time, 50% of their corporate workforce was hired within 1 year. Directors remain oblivious (aka willfully in denial - even when clear feedback is surfaced by groups of employees) of the senior managers’ incompetence, creating a viscous cycle of turnover and a toxic culture. Their emphasis on “ownership mindset” is a ploy to get junior employees to shoulder all of the work & accountability at a fraction of the pay, while the senior managers flail around with nothing to do, yelling at each other (cheers for toxic masculinity?), telling female employees to be more “likeable”, and forcing their direct reports to work through thanksgiving while they enjoy unlimited vacation days as a ‘senior employee’ (note-Wayfair provides no sick days, and only gives 6 out of the 13 public holidays off - thanksgiving is supposedly one of them). If they mention work life balance in the interview process, it’s a lie. Pretty much my entire interview was a scam, and when you join the company you realize the sketchiness extends beyond recruitment....
