A once great company, wrecked by bad management
Pros
Interesting problem space, competitive compensation, quality coworkers (at the time of writing), opportunities to learn cutting edge technology / software. When I hired at TORC it WAS an amazing company. Great vision, direction, camaraderie, and unity of purpose. Any one WAS willing to help anyone else because all were working toward the same beautiful goal. The pay and benefits were amazing for the geographic location and working field. The work (daily) WAS challenging but fun, the task (goal) WAS interesting and meaningful. It has that history, that DNA, so it could get back there, maybe…
Cons
Horrible management (at time of writing), extreme volatility in daily work life and demands, constant direction pivots and reorgs, extreme high source of stress, unreasonable expectations on workers, unrealistic goals, insufficient / poor leadership (with some exceptions, at the time of writing). At the time of writing, TORC has lost all of its original DNA (see Pros section). As of Spring 2023, TORC started hiring in poor management (CTO + his management picks), and acquired a company with poor decision makers (ex-CEO + upper leaders) that were integrated into high positions at TORC. In 18 months time from the CTO hiring date, TORC went from an enjoyable, exciting place to a typical tech company with all the fighting, poor direction, in-fighting, and blaming culture that they are known for. Many of the “original” employees left in response and the culture has fundamentally degraded. The company has undergone countless reorgs, so many that it was impossible to remember what team or department you were technically on. The work got to where it felt meaningless because the direction and goals changed so frequently, and despite an “open door” / “ask me anything” policy, leadership repeatedly either gave non answers or said one thing and did another. They’re not trustworthy anymore.
