Pros
Positives: - some very smart people to learn from if you are proactive - Opportunity to develop strong programming skills - exposure to lots of different areas in tech (this can be a bad thing too) - lots of interesting characters and a good social atmosphere - You will be well rewarded if you have: a) an appetite to take on unstructured, fairly risky new projects b) self discipline to manage your own projects c) the confidence to promote and defend the work you do - A challenging place to work - but if you back yourself there can be big rewards.
Cons
- Harsh feedback culture without enough thought going into career development frameworks. Very much "if you know, you know" culture in tech and analytics. - Deep-rooted aversion to "corporate BS" within higher management, which although is well-intended, ultimately undermines product and project managers, and makes the organisation of work chaotic and unpredictable. - Disorganised ways of working results in fragmented teamwork. Many people end up getting their head down and trying to do something useful by themselves. Easy to slip through the cracks. Shout about your work as much as possible if you want to be noticed, because there isn't the management framework there to disseminate and judge your work consistently. - There is an inner circle of experienced, very intelligent developers / data scientists holding management positions, who come up with interesting ideas for projects but fail to communicate or organise these well, resulting in continuously moving goal posts and shuffling priorities. - Constant emphasis on "entrepreneurial growth-mindset" and "being your own boss", which creates a clash of overconfident code cowboys and unempowered middle management. - Very good pay for a select few who's work and influence is judged, subjectively, to be outstanding. Below average pay for people who either do the more non-glamorous but essential maintenance work (e.g addressing technical debt) or simply don't make as bigger noise about the work they do. - People work long hours because of thinly outlined expectations and fear of harsh feedback. Pay is likewise below average in the industry. - Out of hours work culture. Tech management explicitly mentioned that being available to answer slack messages and deal with urgent work on the weekends was a valued asset (in context of promotions/pay rises) - Several instances of people being fired during probation. "Deep end" onboarding process.
