Pros: Checkout has some amazing technology. The vast majority of it is cutting-edge, and there's a general enthusiasm towards perpetual improvement. Most of the people who work at Checkout are smart, motivated, and just all-around nice. There are frequent formal knowledge-sharing sessions, and the environment is dynamic with regards to the number of interesting projects being developed. There is general freedom to suggest and motivate for the implementation of projects that you feel may improve the business operations, as well as a fair amount of autonomy in the way that you work and implement features. The company is going places. They just received the largest amount of Series-A funding for a European FinTech on record.

Cons: There is zero transparency on career progression in the engineering department. Nobody seems to be able to shed any light on what characteristics and competencies are required to be able to move to a position of more seniority. Vague goals and wishy-washy promises are often offered to appease, and are promptly forgotten come the next review period. This problem is further exacerbated by incompetent managers, as they are often the only line of communication between you and one who makes decisions on your career progression. I found myself often misrepresented in this fashion. This is not always the fault of the manager, as Checkout does not provide training for any of its engineering line managers, and I don't think that it's malicious. Seniority and technical know-how do not equal people management and development skills. There is no recourse for someone in such a position. Reviews are downward-facing only. One never has the opportunity to review one's manager, and so many issues either never come to light, or are ignored when brought up face to face, eventually resulting in a decision to move on to better things.

Pros: Better than 2 years ago with management adjustments. In a good position. Feeling pretty valued as an employee.

Cons: Work is not always interesting; some coasting.

Pros: Good colleagues, modern .Net core & micro service architecture, free lunch.

Cons: The churn is real. Lots of experienced engineers are leaving or have recently left. Progression is slow and cumbersome, with a four-month-long review process that is calibrated across the company to produce a bell curve. In other words, it's enforced mediocrity. Technical decision-making is chaotic. RTO of three days per week is rigidly enforced, and the mass exoduses are partially the result.