Pros
The previously Handy leadership is a brotherhood. If you’re lucky enough to get invited in your experience will be distinctively better than those who don’t.
Cons
I have never seen a company this large ran so poorly. The communication across product verticals and down to the development teams is abysmal. Layoffs are frequent and sneaky. People just disappear from slack one day with zero acknowledgement from leadership. Most “underperformance” is a direct result of poor leadership and calloused upper management decisions that have no regard for the people it impacts. Engineering leaders are hyper critical and distrusting of anyone outside of the brotherhood. Micromanagement is a common practice of Angi leadership, and it is not uncommon to have the failure of imposed leadership decisions placed on the teams. I have seen entire teams removed for “performance” when a subpar leader failed to properly plan and allocate resources. The upper leadership tries to run a large organization like Angi as if it were the small startup for which they are all most familiar. The result is chaos, and is a Petri dish for germinating mental and emotional burnout for their engineering groups. The Tech Bro attitude is rampant among leadership who appear to be attempting to recreate the concept of boy kings the industry tried to get away from after Zuckerberg. Since the Angi merger in 2021 the percentage of diversity in the Angi engineering group continues to trend down. Management skills are not a requirement for management positions, and often candidates with poor leadership skills but considered technical are prioritized over candidates with significant leadership abilities but viewed by the brotherhood as less than in technical abilities. Middle managers have almost no say in the direction of their own teams and are often not consulted before staffing changes or compensation amounts are finalized. Engineering Managers are expected to stay relevant at a principal engineer level of technical aptitude while sitting in meetings for the majority of their time. The dichotomy of these expectations results in a stressed out middle management who have little time to spare for the teams they were hired to manage. If anyone is paying attention to the meteoric decline of Angi this is a great case study on how to destroy three companies at once while lining the pockets of those responsible for their destruction.
Pros
1. The work is mostly interesting and challenging. 2. My team is pretty awesome. I'm very lucky and grateful to have ans engineering manager that really takes an interest in the well being of our team, but still strives to make a strong impact in the company. Everyone on my team is very supportive and willing to jump into solving a problem at a moments notice. There are no egos on my team. 3. The work from home policy is fantastic. I get to save commuting money, but I never feel "alone". We have daily standups and ad-hoc meetings, so we collaborate frequently. 4. There is some opportunity to learn new technology, though I would prefer if it were more often. 5. Management seems pretty transparent and honest with the company. I never feel like the C-suite is hiding anything. We have regular "all-hands" meetings where they discuss the state of the company, our success and failures, where we are going as a company and how to get there. I really like that communication and honesty. 6. Angi is regularly asking for feedback to improve itself. That is wonderful, and rare. I've worked at previous companies that never did anything like this, and it showed. I'm very glad that Angi is always striving to be a great place to work. 7. Angi is serious about clearly documenting our work. Whether that's holding RFC meetings, writing spike docs, or just building simple information docs in confluence. 8. Angi has onsites where employees can travel to meet in person. I've been to a couple and they are great. Would love for this to happen more often. I sometimes here they plan twice a year, but that doesn't always happen.
Cons
1. Angi has a lot of outdated code and systems, decades worth. This causes some serious issues with the products, and makes working with them significantly harder than it needs to be. Luckily, management is aware and has initiatives in place to migrate off these legacy systems. Just a matter of when. 2. Like many companies these days, Angi is trying to use AI more in daily work life. This has pros and cons. So far, I have not seen the benefit of it, hence I'm posting in the "cons" section. I think there is a general lack of knowledge on how to use it. 3. Lately there has been a push to "move faster", especially now with the adoption of AI tools. I have seen teams making some poor choices, resulting in costly mistakes. I would love to return (at least a little) to a slower, more thoughful approach. A "measure twice, cut once" approach, not "ship now, fix later".
Pros
The culture is generally positive, and leadership is accessible. Management is willing to meet with employees and listen to concerns. There are talented people throughout the organization, and the work can be rewarding if you enjoy sales and helping businesses grow.
Cons
The biggest challenge is the compensation structure. The company promotes uncapped commissions, but many employees feel earnings are effectively controlled through continually increasing quotas and changing performance targets. Revenue and nominal goals are adjusted so frequently that it can feel like the finish line is always moving. What's particularly frustrating is that the majority of the sales team often struggles to reach 100% of quota, yet goals continue to rise. This creates the perception that compensation expense is being managed through quota increases rather than by allowing top performers to fully benefit from the revenue they generate. Over time, this can discourage high achievers. Employees who consistently perform well are often expected to deliver significantly more results each year just to maintain the same level of compensation. When exceptional performance is met with ever-increasing targets instead of proportionally increasing rewards, motivation suffers.
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