Pros
- Some really good and talented people work there. In fact the majority are really quality people and do very good work. - Great attitude towards time off and work/life balance. - Progressive in most respects. Whether or not it's heading in the right direction or not is debatable though. - Peaceful, respectful environment. - Always plenty of time off at Christmas and *never* forced to work on weekends or long hours.
Cons
In my opinion: - CTO has pretty much derailed the company making it difficult to get anything done due to pedantic quibbling (and disinterest in anything that isn't equally pedantic), untimely obsessive micromanagement, and just absolutely stunningly awful decision making and indecisiveness. His inability to deal with people/situations had caused a lot of stress and despair. - Two classes of people, an inner circle and everyone else. If you're in the "everyone else" category it's not like you're treated poorly or anything but you might as well resign yourself to feeling like an outsider and unimportant and unheard, especially if you're not physically in the office every day. - Almost zero mobility. Whatever you're hired for is pretty much what you'll stay doing for the rest of your time there. It's almost unheard of for someone to move into a different role no matter how hard they work or what their aptitude or training might be. Unless you're in the inner circle of course, but even then there's not a great amount of mobility, it's not a huge company. - If you're not a person who naturally bubbles with sunshine and positivity, you will be indirectly (or sometimes directly) pressured to behave as if you were so. This is probably the company's Achilles heel since it's suppressing the expression of critical thinking. - It's a Shopify vassal state. Sadly there's not much left if Shopify ever turned their backs on this company, and worse they're unwilling/unable to recognize Shopify's thinly-veiled indifference towards them which is painful/cringey to watch. - People aren't utilized well. You may have ten years of training in something they need but that doesn't matter, they'll hire someone off the street that looks nice on paper and make them your new boss the next day. - Decision makers often frustratingly neglectful of things that aren't presented as good news. - No financial incentives for anyone not in the inner circle. The only company I've ever worked for that didn't have a Christmas bonus of some kind, although to be fair the free days off between Christmas and New Years softened the blow a bit at least.