Shopify

Great/close colleagues. Interesting projects to work on. Great learning resources and opportunities. Good WLB, depending on where you are in the organization.

The company is run by a CEO that changes his mind on a whim with little to no pushback from people directly under him.

Case-and-point: he acquires a fulfillment company for $2.1 billion, only to sell it for $1.1 billion 10 months later. This is not an example of sane or prudent decision-making. I understand that successful acquisitions are rare, but I've never seen an acquisition given up on or resold less than a year later. Such whimsical decision-making does not happen with people who know how to run companies.

Senior leadership outright lies.

Case-and-point: in Feb 2023, the president of Shopify states that no more layoffs will happen. Then, 3 months later, a 20% layoff occurs. Even the most senior leaders of a company cannot guarantee, under all circumstances, that layoffs will not occur. So don't bother saying that they won't occur in major business news publications. This is an example of why you shouldn't take what leadership says at face value.

Depending on where you are in the organization, you may find yourself on a project where you have to deliver features, quality be damned. You may or may not be okay with this approach to software development.

Internal processes and communication tools change with no realized benefit. On the contrary, there have been net negative benefits from some changes.

Attempts at fostering a trusting culture are laughable.

To those just below the C-suite, grow a spine and provide pushback when it looks like stupid decisions are being made.