Pros: Many of the developers, engineers, and traders are very talented. There is an outward appearance of work-life balance and minimal stress, as compared to other firms.

Cons: I do not trust the leadership in this firm. There is a constant turnover of talent, a constant drive to recruit junior talent/interns/new grads with minimal or no experience, and no focus on a mentorship model, nor appreciation for what the senior talent brings to the table with their lessons learned, networks to tap into, and knowledge others can learn from. A January layoff removed people that were attempting to course-correct bad past software decisions, were strong engineers, and provided mentorship. The same folks laid off were then used as scapegoats to the remaining teams as to why performance was not at expectations. Firms lay off people all of the time. This layoff cycle seemed not only cold, but when combined with offers being rescinded, leaving developers without employment sometimes days before their start dates, I question the ethics of the leadership and HR. My faith in the firm’s direction has been completely lost. Understanding the way layoffs were conducted, I believe HR and senior leadership has little/no understanding nor respect for developers. By looking at previous comments, know that the abundance of comments that talk about the firm being so young and fresh is true, but that comes at a cost. You will not get the opportunity to learn, and you will be thrown into bad architectures to support. Some of the few and more senior folks in leadership positions are the cause of some of the bad architectures and performance unfortunately, but they are well-versed at playing the political game. Teams on average have 3-4 years of experience, inclusive of some of the C-suite in Chicago that have very little experience/no experience outside of the firm.

Pros: Akuna encourages continuous learning and personal development. There are opportunities to grow and learn new things. The people here are very knowledgeable, always open to helping each other, and also care about their work. The engineering team follows best practices and keeps the tech stack up to date.

Cons: Requires figuring things out on your own at times, which can be challenging but rewarding.

Pros: Good office location, free snacks.

Cons: No work-life balance. Toxic work culture. Poor management and no planning; because of this, many people from the Sydney and Chicago offices were laid off. No bonus paid to redundant staff. Advice to Grads/Interns: Consider this firm as your last option on the planet.