Lots of red flags - Senior Engineer I January Employee Review

1.0
Mar 9, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- some individual contributors are skilled and professional

Cons

- lots of deception, dishonesty, and hiding by the senior management (particularly CEO & HR). - emails from CEO at all hours of the day to fix vaguely described issues, even on holidays, past 10pm, before 7am. - very few full-time engineering resources, several colleagues are interviewing to leave as well - culture of burnout, justified by "fast-moving startup" culture. However, the startup has not grown significantly by any metric. - lots of poor non-data-driven product decisions by CEO - lots of tech debt accumulated from endless employee turnover - huge compensation disparities within levels - the CTO is a part-time contractor - CEO is the head of the board so she has no one to keep her accountable.

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January Response
4y
Thank you for your feedback. All employees on our team are skilled, professionals and we do offer great opportunities to grow skills at this company. We always share as much information with team members as appropriate and address their questions and concerns promptly and directly, we are sorry if it doesn't always appear to be so and endeavor to be even more transparent going forward. We are a startup and recognize that that pace may not be right for everyone, and try and screen for this during our interview processes - we are emphasizing that part of our screening even more going forward. When we hire and promote we always benchmark and pay very generously at competitive market rates for all levels of contributors. We have a large number of full-time engineers on our team, many of them have been outsourced as is common with any technology company, but we agree about the importance of having them in-house and we are working very hard to bring the entire team in-house as soon as possible. Our CTO is an employee of the company. Our Engineering team is growing and is currently actively working on the next generation of our software product. We do operate in a space where things move fast and we believe that incurring technical debt is a reality that we should embrace when done wisely.

Explore other reviews about January

5.0
Sep 22, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

January is one of the rare companies where you can truly be proud of what you build. Its mission is to improve people’s lives by empowering them to understand their bodies—helping them eat better, manage glucose levels, and take control of their health. Today, the company is going far beyond glucose by incorporating blood tests, wearable devices, and other health inputs. Using advanced machine learning and AI, January delivers personalized insights and actionable recommendations that don’t just extend longevity but meaningfully improve healthspan. The team includes some of the brightest minds, united by a deep commitment to this vision. At the center is the CEO, whose relentless dedication ensures that January’s mission can reach and benefit the population at large.

Cons

A startup like this isn’t for everyone—and that’s what makes it special. Success here takes commitment and a true all-in mindset. While we value work-life balance, thriving at January means going beyond “just doing a job” to helping bring a bold vision to life. If you have a startup mindset and a passion for making an impact, this is the place to excel.

1
1.0
May 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Paychecks were reliable and they didn't micromanage your schedule.

Cons

Nobody talks to each other and I don't think it's accidental - you can feel the structural problem the moment you start working there. Teams just operate in completely separate worlds and information dies at the boundaries, so you end up duplicating without even knowing it. I've watched people spend weeks on projects that could've been avoided with one conversation between departments. The company is siloed by design and nobody seems to care enough to fix it. When you ask questions you either get radio silence or contradictory answers depending on which team you catch first. The infuriating part is watching smart people work hard on things that are duplicative because the structure literally prevents them from knowing what's already being done.

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