Pros
- The possibility to work remotely was an advantage.
Cons
The following are based on my personal perception and subjective experience. I cannot speak for others publicly, although the sentiments expressed here were shared by various colleagues. The mains cons, in my view, were: - For those preferring to work in an office, this is not the best place for you. Unless you're top management, the main office lacks space, is not very well organized or always clean, and, as of my last visit, not really accessible if you have physical disabilities. - In my personal and subjective experience, the biggest con was the lack of clear structured processes. A lot of cross-team work was organized ad hoc and this led to chaotic processes and late deadlines. I experienced this first-hand many times. - The leadership and management changed a lot during 2023 and this led to some instability and a lot of confusion. - Some ways of dealing with employees were, in my subjective experience, not transparent or reasonable. Some employees's contracts were terminated after being judged with hidden metrics that were not communicated beforehand. There were other actions of this nature. - In my experience, diversity and inclusion are lacking. This is, of course, a Polish startup. Most comms, including company-wide meetings, are held in Polish.
Pros
It's hard for me to imagine a better place to work than PhotoAiD. I've been working here for over two years, and I am definitely hungry for more. Looking at the cross-section of my position, I can see a huge space here to pursue my individual and collective goals. The company gives great opportunities to test various hypotheses and is focused on unconventional solutions. Looking at the cross-section of the company, PhotoAiD is an expert in hiring awesome people. Every person I have come into contact with is incredibly enthusiastic and always willing to help. In addition, the company listens to people, and very often, my feedback does not go unnoticed, which is very important in the context of building a better place for the employees themselves.
Cons
There are no cons at all.
Pros
- Competitive salary and occasional (happened once in 2 years) bonuses - Casual, friendly culture: Pretty much most people are very approachable. - Your opinions matter: At least on the team/direct management level) - Talented team and amazing people: Everybody I worked with were professionals in their fields and wonderful people. - Great direct managers: I don’t know about other departments, but in my case, all my managers were always very helpful and had our team’s back. - Great work-life balance: You can work from home or abroad, or you can do hybrid work. Overall, a great company to gain some experience, work closely with amazing people, and get good compensation.
Cons
- Terrible if you're looking for long-term stability. Lay-offs happen suddenly and without much feedback. During my tenure, a great number of people were laid off ad hoc, some without much explanation or time to say goodbye to colleagues (instant Slack account block). You may get laid off even if the company is doing well financially and you seem to be appreciated, which is terrible for the employees' mental health and peace of mind. - Lack of transparency. The top management makes decisions without letting "low level" employees know until the last moment, with the decisions being often drastic. During my time here, the company has changed business directions twice, resulting in lay-offs and a complete reorganisation. - Chaotic environment. On the team level, all's fine and you can count on your direct manager and team mates. But cross-department communication is a mess, sometimes we weren't even told that passwords to crucial tools were changed. - Your voice matters, at least in theory. The company runs monthly and quarterly questionnaires to ensure you can express your feedback. In theory, they're anonymous, but in practice not so much - if your team is small, it's easy to know who you are (which really doesn't encourage you to be 100% honest). Also, I don't know how much these "polls" actually matter, as I personally raised issues overtime and never saw any changes. - Odd tasks. Sometimes you'll be given tasks unrelated to your domain and position (basically doing other departments’ tasks), which gets annoying overtime and you waste your resources. Unless you ask questions yourself, you may not get much guidelines on how to do the job properly. - High management turnover. During my time, the management changed multiple times, and each person (they were all lovely and knowledgable) had a very different vision of what we should be doing. Some of our managers I know of left because they felt like their opinions weren't heard and they knew there was no point trying. - No clear line of promotion/career opportunities. In my department, you had no chance of growing and getting promoted, and there are no clear career "paths". If you want a pay raise, you have to ask for it each time, no one really comes to appreciate your input and hard work. - No learning opportunities unless you find them yourself. The company doesn't really encourage learning, they never promote any courses you can take. In theory, you can find a course yourself and ask the top management to fund it, but it doesn’t feel like they really care about your growth. I was lucky enough that my direct managers did promote growth and provided us with learning materials. - Questionable values. Even though the company emphasises how much they appreciate people (and they mostly do, on team levels), I'm not sure how much they really care. During my time, some employees were laid off with immediate effect and didn't even have time to say goodbye to they colleagues. There was never any official goodbyes from top management either, unless you wrote a post on Slack (they'd then thank you for your amazing work). A proper performance feedback should be given to ALL employees that leave, so they have professional closure and directions for improvement. Overall, a not a place for someone who wants to help build a company long-term, grow professionally, and have a stable work environment.
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