Nepotism is real, Waning culture, Stay for the benefits
Pros
fully paid medical health plan, optional dental/vision unlimted pto (people seem to take 4-5weeks per year) remote work 3% 401K match Yearly potential bonus (different for each individual employee, some 5% / 7% / 10% etc)
Cons
Fire-fighting culture. Whatever is fastest and easiest, regardless of long term scalability. Tech debt, what's that? Copy & Paste culture. Company was bought out and now everything is driven like its a 10k+ company trying to get as much profit as fast as possible without concern for long-term sustainability. It has come at the expense of employees and utilizing their amazing skills as well as reduction in a quality product. The 'churn' and customer turnover is showing in the quarterly numbers and it seems our bonus percentages might be in jeopardy. There are definite 'favorites'. Anyone who rubs elbows to push for change, efficiency, processes, or better quality are being driven out. It is clear that managers feel these pains but don't push back because it gets them no where. Most of the chatter amongst employees comes down to "I'll deal with it until the flexibility goes away." Seems most employee's drive have been beaten down due to failed attempts to better the products, processes, and themselves. That said employees are also starting to leave. If you consider applying here, make sure to ask about processes in place that will help the company scale as well as their software development strategy. You may also inquire about why they have openings. You will likely hear something about growth of the company and 'scrum' but in reality deadlines are created and then they try to make the 'sprints' work for the deadline. Managers are the only ones involved in refinement of stories so you're at their mercy to get any detailed requirements. A/C seems to be an optional task. Scrum team ceremonies don't include all players and things are often passed of between teams without having a cohesive scrum team/session. There is a very small PO team but they only provide high level bullet points. The products sold integrate with many ERPs and the company rely on developers to figure out business requirements for the integrations and do not actively employ subject matter experts. Pointing takes place but seems to be on the preface of '1 point = 1 day'. And again, deadlines are determined from up above, and hence points don't really matter. On top of them not being calculated by effort/difficulty/unknowns. Raises are only given out based on salary band compensation study adjustments made in July. It has been established that no one should go over midpoint and takes a person roughly 3 years to hit 'proficiency' in their role for the midpoint. You will have managerial 'reviews' however these are performance reviews which are only a small point of proficiency and do not go into your compensation study increase. Performance merit is not given, therefore you have no incentive to do anything more than bare minimum. Seems that people are shifted into new positions based on who is liked and 'career pathing' that is never discussed. If you have been a given a raise in a 6 month period, you are no longer eligible for another.
