Applied Intuition

You'll probably get quite good at what you do because there aren't enough people, but you'll have to rely on your own ability to distinguish what is and isn't good practice because all the senior engineers have quit.

• Subpar compensation retains subpar talent. They also recently started counting health insurance contributions in the TC calculation (???). Raises and refreshers are few and far between because of "stock growth"
• The company builds tools, but all the tooling sucks because the focus is on shipping over quality
• Largest contracts so far have been signed with companies with a nonexistent technical bar strictly because they can't tell that they're being sold garbage
• Leadership is weirdly elitist in a way that projects insecurity. CEO makes a habit of parking in a fire lane outside all offices, and throws fits when people drive nicer cars than he does
• 50 hour work week is performative nonsense: you're either fire fighting or showing your face just to make it seem like you're being productive
• Vast majority of engineers are <5yoe. You won't learn from them so you better have a strong sense for good practice
• 5 day RTO is inconsistently enforced. Some managers don't care while others will (passive) aggressively hound you for not being in the office. The buildings are also far too crowded to be healthy working environments, with two urinals shared between an office of ~200 people.
• Obsessive focus on optics over pragmatism. Things like being verbally abused by the CEO for attire, not "looking busy" when customers are on site are par for the course

Ultimately, this is a company run by people who are very obviously rent-seeking with no real coherent vision. You get the distinct impression that given enough DOD money, the CEO would run an autonomous tank over the employees who built it, all the while claiming immunity because he's a poor immigrant from Pakistan.

Avoid, or if you must join, mentally set a time limit on your tenure beforehand. Your labor is not worth their hot air.

You talk a lot about all the books you read. Your actions and who you are as people put your literacy in question.

There's a review on here that calls the CEO a "philosopher," which I guess speaks to the kind of people you retain.