Going Downhill - Independent Contractor Shipt Employee Review

Nice gig to make some extra money. Target stores are easier to navigate fyi.

Less busy when not in peak times.

Good pay, extremely cushy work environment (see cons below), access to most modern tech stacks. I have enjoyed some of my time at Shipt as I had some autonomy in what I work on. That has changed recently, however.

Major disfunction originating from leadership. The product model and processes has always been messed up. Quarterly planning is an absolute nightmare, with garbage PRDs being AI generated causing engineering managers and project leads to be inundated with PRD reviews of half-baked ideas. Every quarter, a majority of product initiatives are "kicked off" late in the quarter due to miscommunication or lack of requirements, and engineering is forced to scramble to meet deadlines. No one (engineering, product, design) believes in the work that is dictated from the leadership team. Tech initiatives are crowded out by last minute projects that have no impact on business metrics. Arbitrary deadlines are set by leadership with no justification short of "we should move faster". Target needs to clean house and put their own people in place. There's an extreme lack of accountability at every level of this organization. Some engineers do minimal work and can coast for years. Leadership oversees farcical projects that never move the needle, yet they stay in their position. Unlimited PTO results in inefficiencies as key contributors for projects will be gone for weeks at a time.