Sadly, I would not recommend anyone to join Health Catalyst; my experience was one of consistent frustration and disappointment, leading to my departure as soon as I could manage it. In no particular order:
- Technology - Much of HC's tech stack is antiquated, and the migration to the "new-and-improved" platform that was promised still has not materialized. As others have noted, this means that you will be WAY behind the curve when applying to jobs at other companies in the future. HC also heavily relies on in-house tools, rendering huge portions of their codebase and software opaque and difficult to understand, even for the people who work with them every day.
- Management - Senior executives and leaders pronounce a largely positive message that conflicts jarringly with the struggles of lower-level employees and individual contributors. Turnover among the C-suite and SVPs contributes to a sense of the company being rudderless. Direct managers and team leads often are unable to manage conflict that is sometimes necessary, and many don't seem to possess much expertise or experience beyond simply having been at HC for a long time.
- Culture - HC's culture (or lack thereof) always baffled me. Despite professing to be a remote-first company, there was little thought given or effort made to create and grow relationships among team members. For example, most people don't put their cameras on in Zoom meetings; even if mine is on, everyone else remains a faceless name on a screen. HC's focus on ideas like "assume positive intent" have unfortunately morphed into an extreme aversion to conflict and tough conversations. Managers may acknowledge challenges and problems in private, but then there will be no follow-up or action to actually address them. Speaking from personal experience, I was promised that things would change over and over again; eventually, you realize they won't and decide to leave.
- Business and organization - Even in my short time at HC, I saw at least 4-6 companies acquired under varying rationales. It was never clear how the companies were meant to integrate with what were supposedly HC's core technologies and products, or how the company meant to develop its new platform when so much money was going to acquisitions. Similarly, despite having enough money for a 5% company-wide raise and acquisitions at the end of 2024, January 2025 saw another round of layoffs, the third in less than two years. I never quite learned what exactly it was HC did, and I have no idea what exactly they're hoping to do in the future.