Pros
There were not many, but the workplace did bring together employees from various countries, ethnic backgrounds, and language groups. However, most of them were able to speak Japanese.
At the time, machine vision was still in the early stages of industrial adoption, so the technology attracted considerable attention and high expectations.
Cons
There were many.
First, the management structure did not function effectively. Notably, the CTO and CHRO were a married couple, which raised questions about governance, especially given the company’s stated intention to pursue an IPO. I often observed personnel decisions that appeared highly emotional, and the assignments given to Japanese employees in particular seemed arbitrary and unfortunate.
There were very few employees with solid experience in productization, and most initiatives remained experimental projects. It was unclear how this aligned with shareholder expectations.
Aside from the CEO, CTO, and CHRO, the rest of the executive team turned over roughly every year, suggesting that the environment was extremely demanding.
Overall, the workload was very heavy, the future outlook felt uncertain, and I ultimately decided to leave. Unfortunately, the experience left me with mostly negative impressions.