I would probably say there are more downsides even though the line of work is interesting. I'm sure the company has changed over the last couple of years, which is good. There used to be this feeling of "frat boy" like culture, particularly with management. But could be different now (I also heard culture is different between Toronto and NYC).
While their values as a company are good and great that they look for people who are align with that, unfortunately they don't always exude those values, especially those managing the NYC office. No, managers do not truly believe in life-long learners while there are things in the company that promote that like Power Hour. I think mainly, the managers are pretty inexperienced especially for the role they carry, which means that their titles are quite inflated. Those are even the honest words of an existing employee there.
This means that they're actually quite poor at 1) managing people, 2) communication skills, 3) holding accountability.
There are quite some stories to tell, but will provide these. Managing people: part of being a manager is not just handling a different role in that they talk with clients more, review work etc., but they provide pretty dishonest feedback, sometimes even to the detriment of their teammate because they're too afraid to come off as negative. Think it's totally okay to provide feedback that's criticism, obviously so that people can improve the next time. When asked feedback to improve each time, they have a hard time paving out a clear roadmap to actually care about your professional progress and improvement, then all of a sudden, you may either feel blindsided or get something out of nowhere super negative without fully knowing what went on. Although they value mentorship, there is a lack thereof and is merely hearsay. Management/seniors like to provide super vague, analogy -like comments that convey not much and isn't really that great if you're looking to actually improve yourself. Ex: "Try to run out of the fire but I actually have no example (to back up why I'm saying this.)." After having said this, I'm sure people intentions are always good, and this goes back to the point where inexperience and maybe even their lack of mentorship gets the best of them. Sometimes it's not their fault though awareness can be very low/they can be very sensitive.
Also, I did notice that my manager once tried to get away with white lies/misinformation when trying to explain to me expected work quality. Basically, he drew from one employee who had a year exp in something and said this was this guy's work fresh out of grad at KG. While just meeting that colleague, I knew that he had already worked elsewhere, and I called out on my manager's BS by politely confirming that this person worked prior (not that it matters really, but the way that was framed was very misinforming). Unfortunately, don't think my manager expected that and he was taken aback slightly.
Yes, it's also true that bottom-level people shouldn't be giving their managers are hard time, but if there's no investment from management/seniors to lay out expectations, be clear for what they're looking for, basic training, etc. then what are they doing being a manager? The reason why being a manager is difficult is because you have to *manage* people, which is a big, added responsibility. A big reason is probably because people in this company lean towards more inexperience/lack of experienced managers for these new managers/seniors.
At the same time, there used to be a lack of more senior people, super bottom heavy (might have changed by now). So if one senior is already stuck helping one junior who is kind of drowning, then other juniors are basically without anyone looking out for them. Goes back to the whole lack of mentorship they say they believe in.
Side note: I actually have also experienced this where another junior 1) changed my work/slides without my knowing and presented it to the team, where it received feedback that the content/order of slides should be what it originally was before he changed it. I was shocked when that happened, and didn't know how to react. The other time, this same guy (who I'm not sure who works there anymore) misled (maybe even lied) me. I asked to clarify something about the data to be used, this guy assured me that yes I was correct with x and y columns. Made it, we showed leadership, feedback was another set (which is fine, okay I made the mistake), this guy tells everyone in the room, "that's what I meant, I was confused why you chose that and that's what I was trying to tell you". Like what....
Maybe it was his insecurity, I have no clue.
Konrad is pretty bad communication skills because like said above, everyone is super vague in explaining and conveying what they want, expectations, etc. One time my senior kept saying "we're gonna work on this"...like multiple times. So "we" to me sounds like a teamwork thing. What he meant was "we" = "me" while he said he tried to "hint" at me that that's what he meant. How is this not confusing? I brought this up to them, and they said it gave them something to think about. Again may circle back to their inexperience of their title.
As for holding accountability, it's not like seniors/managers slide everywhere to be avoided the blame (at least I'm not sure if that's true). As implied above, when you ask for specific examples either to get better or if you're suddenly blamed out of nowhere and ask why, they'll just say you need to hold yourself accountable, can't provide clear examples sometimes. And when you're honest, and that honesty shows that they are also to blame, they get nervous. Honestly, it's probably their inexperience again.
Unfortunately, I experienced inappropriate comments from one of the managers as well (NOT in a sexual way just to not mislead anyone, as this can be a serious allegation). Inappropriate comments in that it was completely a backhanded compliment, that no manager should be doing. I also know I am not the only that experienced this from this manager. "I had no idea you were good enough and capable to..." For a person to have this kind of influence in the company, I could justify a one star. But I'm sure there are even worse out there.