Pros
- Persona with boring name and canned picture on the wall / white board for the sake of whatever research is common everywhere, here every name and story is up close and personal, and you can see the true reality of story everywhere no matter you walk from Union to Eaton Centre, or Ryerson to China town. I was bind before, and after a year or so with Ample, is hard not to see them. This place is an eye opener. If you are upset of the current climate of the world, and you still have your empathy and not apathy, this is pretty good place.
- It is chaotic something, but it also means freedom to use whatever stack and tech you desire. No more policy and process and assessment to stop you. Just do it and see how many people on the street you can cause an impact.
- I don't know how the CEO does that, but you will meet interesting people and make new unexpected connections right left and centre.
- If you have a family and a brand new yacht in mind, this might not be the best place. But, if you are tired of corporate BS and just want to see what the buzz about start up is about, a decent place to try.
Cons
- in a place like this, you better know what you are doing and expect the worst. No big team of DevOps or InfoSec or whatever is going to watch you back. I do miss the crunch right before the deadline, and no one and nothing there for you except your other coding partner. Is a nice experience and actually felt accomplished. I don't really miss the '2 px to the left' QA right before launch thou ...
- this is not the place for big bonus and promotion, , but if you are looking for something more internal (or if you have abundant of those earthy things already and just looking for a challenge), this is a hellish of a place you can try to make your name.