Pros
-Moving into a new HQ. Building looks like it will be nice and is in the international district area. -Cool office (currently) -Mostly nice people -Pay is standard for a tech company this size
Cons
-Company is far far behind where it should be, being a late-stage start up with multiple rounds of funding (department structure, internal infrastructure, systems, general levels of organization, etc.) -Poor communication internally across departments (even within departments). -We spend more time fighting fires (often times ones which pop up that day) than working toward strategic long term goals. This is something you would expect at a 50 employee start up, but not a Company this size. -Company negligently did not plan ahead when attempting to scale. We are using old, even obsolete systems, and trying to compete with other tech companies in much better places (because they planned ahead and spent $$$). Most of us are using computers which are several years old. Additionally, we do not use cool tools which you would expect to find at a company like ours. We have neglected to spend funds in these areas, and we still are. -No free snacks or beverages (other than coffee and keg beer). Not saying every business should provide snacks and drinks to employees, but many tech companies do and it has become the norm. -Company started in Bainbridge Island over 12 years ago and only recently moved to Seattle a couple years ago. As you may guess, this has led to a gap in the current talent pool. Up until moving, it was very difficult for the Company to attracted talented Seattle workers (unless they wanted to take a ferry to work each day). -Company does very little to improve culture and employee morale, other than offer free beer. For example, the Company used to have holiday parties, but no longer does. Additionally, the Company used to have treats delivered 4 times a month to the office, but this has been reduced to 2 times per month. This is all coming as a result of aggressive cost cutting. -Teams do not have budgets for offsite events, or expensing team meals (if they do it is hardly noticeable). -Company has 1% 401k match, but this is decided on a year by year basis based on Company performance (cannot rely on it long term). -Many people think they will make a sizable chunk of money from their stocks options, but this is very debatable. People have strike prices higher than they realize. -Company hires loads of contract workers and they are often times treated differently than full time employees. -We hire loads of contractors and attempt to hire the "best" ones as full time employees. This results in valuable knowledge walking out the door (once the other contractors leave).
