1. Leadership and Management:
o The CTO, in his first role of this kind, lacks the necessary leadership experience and skills. Although he is willing to jump on calls and get his hands dirty, this highlights a lack of strategic leadership and an inability to delegate appropriately. There is a significant gap in genuine leadership, which hampers the company's potential.
o The promotion of a principal engineer to a managerial position in the access team has been particularly problematic. Despite having led teams before, he lacks empathy and genuine leadership skills. His interaction style is abrasive, and he imposes his opinions on others without considering alternative viewpoints. This manager is notorious for being difficult to work with and has created a toxic environment within the team. Many subordinates find him to be an outright bully.
o There is a clique of about four or five people, including this manager, who are favored by the CTO. This group has disproportionate influence over decisions, stifling innovation and differing opinions.
2. Engineering and Architecture:
o Engineering practices are outdated, with little to no emphasis on modern architectural standards. Efforts to introduce newer technologies are often dismissed without proper consideration.
o The architecture within the company is fragmented, lacking cohesive guidance. Each team operates independently, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies across projects. The hands-off approach from architecture leads to disjointed development efforts.
o The company's reliance on low-cost engineering resources has led to poor code quality, necessitating extensive rework.
o Project management is inconsistent, with processes frequently changing and rarely improving outcomes. Sales often promise capabilities that do not exist, leading to significant customization needs due to poor code management.
o Internal tools and processes are cumbersome. Engineers are given underpowered computers (16GB RAM) that struggle to handle necessary software. Getting a more powerful machine is a prolonged battle, and administrative access is heavily restricted.
o The use of tools like GitHub and CircleCI is marred by constant changes in configuration, especially with JIRA, which has seen multiple revamps in a single year.
o Heavy meeting schedules make it difficult for engineers to maintain focus and productivity.
o Documentation is emphasized, but much of it goes unread, and there's little emphasis on maintaining applications. The concept of Boy Scouting (incremental improvements) is mentioned but rarely practiced due to time constraints.
o Product owners often lack the skills to write quality stories. In my experience across two different teams, quality stories only emerged when engineers rewrote them. The product team lacks vision, and recent initiatives to address this seem half-hearted and lack genuine intent.
o The company has adopted HL7 FHIR format for inter-service communication, which is overly complex for internal app-to-app interactions. Instead of leveraging tools like MuleSoft for partner integrations, they prefer cumbersome and expensive solutions.
3. Work Environment:
o The company sets unrealistic deadlines without considering accurate estimates, fostering a high-stress atmosphere.
o The gender imbalance within the engineering department is severe, with an overwhelming majority of male engineers. While the broader company is diverse, this imbalance is striking and problematic.
o DEI initiatives appear more as a cost-saving measure than genuine efforts to foster inclusivity, with significant skewing in demographics that raise concerns about the company's commitment to true diversity. During company town halls, discussions on DEI have been handled poorly, showing a lack of genuine commitment.
o Employees are often expected to be on call 24/7 without prior notice or clear communication. This expectation extends through major holidays, with limited time off and a culture that discourages taking leave. Specific holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are often impacted, with unrealistic expectations such as being available to work on Christmas Day.
o The use of X Matters for on-call notifications without reimbursement for phone expenses further adds to employee dissatisfaction.
o There was a mass layoff last year, and several others have occurred. These decisions were made overnight with little empathy. Contractors had their access cut abruptly, without even a thank you from management. Internally, similar lack of empathy has been shown, with employees being nitpicked for small mistakes to justify layoffs.
o When I tried to apply for a principal role, despite having more than enough experience, I was given the runaround. I was promised consideration after a major project, but my attempts to follow up were deflected. My previous manager revealed that promotions were often shot down unless you were part of the CTO's favored group.
4. Company Culture:
o There is a lack of support for LGBTQ+ initiatives, and related inquiries are often dismissed in town halls.
o The overall atmosphere is unprofessional, with limited opportunities for open feedback or engagement with upper management.
o The company's approach to unlimited time off is problematic, as taking extended leave is frowned upon unless you are favored by management. This results in employees feeling unable to take necessary breaks.
o The initial training program is impressive and creates a good first impression, but the excitement quickly fades as the reality of the company's issues becomes apparent.
o There is a severe lack of empathy from leadership. During layoffs, long-term employees were let go without any internal transfer opportunities and were told to reapply externally if they wanted to return.
5. Operational Issues:
o The company frequently acquires other companies without any clear plan for integration, leading to operational inefficiencies.
o HIPAA violations are rampant, posing significant legal risks for employees. The company’s disregard for patient security and data management is concerning, with no genuine commitment to protecting patient information.
o Accessibility issues on their websites are severe, making the company vulnerable to ADA lawsuits.
o Cloud operations are understaffed, with a small team responsible for a large number of employees and systems. This results in slow ticket resolution and escalations being necessary for critical issues.
6. Tools and Resources:
o Engineers are provided with substandard hardware, including low-quality monitors, keyboards, and mice. The performance of the provided computers is the worst in my 22 years of experience, impacting productivity severely.
o The company’s tech stack is a mix of outdated and mismatched tools. For instance, they use GitHub for code but rely on CircleCI for builds instead of GitHub Actions. Logging is managed through Sumo Logic, which is cumbersome, and there's inadequate support for newer, more efficient tools.
o There's a lack of proper container security and a general resistance to adopting modern engineering practices, despite some pockets of interest.
o The focus is on developing new features rather than addressing technical debt. There is no 80-20 rule; instead, engineers are expected to "Boy Scout" and make small improvements when blocked by issues, but there is no time allocated for significant improvements.