Mixed, Maybe Slightly Negative Experience
Pros
- This company has some of the best people I have ever had the joy of working with. As people came and left, the one thing everyone agreed on is that the people is what makes this place. - Some positions also do get paid decently above the market average, but you'll have to fight for it a little at first when you get hired. There are some employees that have worked there longer and harder but are paid less because they initially didn't negotiate as high when getting the job. - Some managers are pretty easy going, but only some of them. You'll know pretty early on which ones. Due to previously high turnover, this company has settled for being okay with B - C level effort. As long as you do that, you're fine. Downside to that is A level effort is not appreciated nearly enough. But I believe there is good job stability here unless the whole company goes under. It will be interesting to see how they weather the effects of the pandemic. - At times, there are snacks in the kitchen and the company does throw a nice get together for the holidays. - Work/life balance is pretty good. It's not one of those places that expects you to work 12 hours a day for 8 hours of pay (though some people have chosen to do so to stand out). Overall, it's not a bad place to work but it's not the right place to grow your career if that's your objective
Cons
That being said, this place is plagued with a lot of the same issues that affect small startups like this: - A lot of things have to go through the CEO. This creates delays and sometimes disagreements. Many things could be done much more efficiently if this bottleneck didn't exist. - It is frustratingly disorganized. There is to clear direction in this company. Different departments almost work against each other which is counterproductive. - Benefits are lacking. Medical is mostly covered, but aside from that not much. There are no bonuses, vacation days are the bare minimum (8 days). However there is a 401k with a match up to 3% so that's good. - The main headquarters is in Shanghai with another location in Europe. It often feels like the US office is the third string. The input from us falls on deaf ears because the other locations believe they know better. I big issue is that engineering refuses to ever make changes which leads to rough product launches and poor customer experiences that the US office then has to deal with. - Location is terrible. It's the southern end of Irvine which almost no one there can afford to live near meaning you will be commuting and traffic can be tough. - A ceiling exists. Most of the big decision making jobs that would boost your resume and give you some solid skills are overseas. You can work really hard and never go up. Especially since at this point, those who have stuck through it the longest hold the marginally higher positions and are in it for the long run. So there's not much room for promotion. - The office is on the second floor with a warehouse on the first. There is no elevator and these printers can weigh well over 50 lbs. The current solution is for them to be taken up manually which is rather exhausting for those who have to do it.