Pros: There's brilliant people at this company, mostly from the individual contributor level. As most companies, your manager is a make or break for culture, but most managers are fine to work under. AI use is encouraged, and not shoved down your throat

Cons: Leadership has no backbone on what they want from you as a team, and managers bleed that down into ICs. Directions change with "this is the new Priority Zero" with no conversation from the people that own the feature. As though leadership finds a shiny new object (read: something that might please shareholders) and will move toward it without conversation. Then when the "I told you so phase" comes in when things stress people out, they're already moving to the next shiny thing. Growth is not actually real here, don't believe that suggestion. Can you grow, yes. But it's despite the company more than encouraged by it. "Move fast" definitely takes priority. I've had excellent colleagues laid off recently, with no good reasoning as to why other than "restructuring."

Pros: Smart and fun people. Stylish space and engaging atmosphere. Adaptive and inclusive culture. Company has a strong growth mindset.

Cons: Weak diversity; it's mostly younger, white people. Nice people, but it can be tough as a POC.

Pros: The company culture is good, as far as an external person is concerned. Some of the people are pretty talented.

Cons: - Absolutely pathetic team leads. - Absolute micromanagement. - Since they try to show off that they have the best culture, the only way they can do the opposite is by being passive-aggressive. Leads retract on their own statements and have partial and targeted behavior. They give a code review at midnight and expect it to be addressed the next day before the 8 am meeting. Since they are easily replaceable, they have an incentive in setting you up for failure. - Doing the same work every day (this is true for most teams). You cannot change teams until a year if you do not like the work. And even after a year, you are at the mercy of the reviews of the same people you are trying to get away from to change teams. - If you are smarter than your superiors, you are absolutely screwed (when I say seniors, they can be the same age as you or even younger, since they can make anyone a TL). - WFH is a joke. I am scrutinized even if I take a lunch break longer than half an hour, or fail to reply to Slack within 5 minutes. I really wish we were in the office because I can at least go to the bathroom and may not be perceived as underperforming or just not attentive to work. - Adhering to best software practices is a forgotten thing. I have survived for some time now but under absolute torture. There is no use reaching out to higher-level management because the person higher up the food chain always wins. You cannot show the truth if everyone hates it. I do not know when they will fire me, but I expect it sooner rather than later because this has happened to numerous other people in the same way.