Pros
- Talented Employees - Fun IPs to work on - Day to day interactions with other employees are generally positive - Many people share hobbies and passions - Some projects are controlled by external clients. If you are assigned to one of these, you won't have to deal with management's awfulness (see below)
Cons
- Management communication is inconsistent and lackluster at best - No sense of autonomy or ownership - No trust from management - Compensation and benefits are poor. Raises don't happen (despite what they tell you) - Employee Reviews don't happen (despite what they tell you) - Sprint planning barely exists. Or rather it exists, but it changes at least once a week. Features are often added in "hotfixes". - No HR department (Office manager isn't the same thing). If you're feeling harassed, stressed, or otherwise having a hard time, good luck? - This is commonplace: Management: UserA said that there's a bug on Reddit. We need to fix this right away!!! Employees: That's actually as designed. You specifically sent an email 6 months ago that you wanted it that way. Management: I never said that. Fix it now. Work overtime, put aside other features youre working on, do whatever you need to do. Make this a priority now. Repeat some number of more times. Some weeks later... Management: Why are we behind schedule???!!! Employees: Because you kept telling us to hotfix issues and that took time and you never removed items from the current release so now we are behind. Management: Figure it out. Work overtime if you have to. We need this feature completed now!! We'll pay for dinner? *shrug* Employees: Hey I've been working a lot of overtime, and I've been doing really great work. Could I get a raise? Management: HAH! yea....no. We dont have the funds right now. (that's what I'm supposed to say, right?) Employees: K thanks bye. I'm worth more. [insert high turn around rate here]