- **** SALARY ****: - Compensation was way, way, way below market rate. And, the company gave me ZERO the opportunity to negotiate my salary based on market data for presales engineering.
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
I was pretty bothered by this dynamic during my time with iText - there was little transparency about how raises were decided, and I had to escalate to quite literally the highest C-Suite executive in order to even talk about that raise. Further, there was no consideration for the weight of inflation on raises. In a later-stage startup like iText, I felt like these issues should have been ironed out already. And, in a competitive market like presales, iText should adjust its rates to attract and maintain good talent. The cost of attrition is probably far higher anyway.
- Overwhelming responsibilities: - Although I had the role of "presales engineer," I also was tasked with post-sales, working with partners, on compliance opps, marketing ventures, running training for new hires, and more. I was effectively worn thin throughout my time with iText, and despite my efforts to reprioritize tasks within work, the puck always stopped with presales -- meaning I was always on call for tasks across the org, across timezones - a lot of stuff a presales engineer should not be tasked with.
I understand that iText is still in its startup and growth phase, but the level of work that presales engineers have is incomprehensible. Coupled with the organization's unwillingness to talk salary, it often felt our presales organization was on an island compared to the rest of the org.
Presales at iText should be recognized for being a necessary backbone of the organization. iText is a very technical sale, and despite the strength of our sales reps, presales was and will always be necessary to get a deal across the line.
- Lack of skills development training/learning.
- Large lack of vacation time in the US office compared to other startups or to the EU office.
