Pros
When I started, it was still an entrepreneurial atmosphere. There were great start-up perks like fresh cut flowers in the kitchen, free snacks, great company parties more than once per year. Lots of energetic, youthful energy. Hope for the future, scrappiness and drive. You felt like the company really made software. Travel to European offices was common and considered a necessity to 'get to know the team'. By the end of my employment, these types of perks lessened, the parties were budgeted and fewer. Travel was restricted. This can be seen as a pro, as spending should be focused on good ROI. The company was trying to mature.
Cons
As the company aged, it seemed to move further and further away from caring about the user. It was always sales-driven, but the company's business model appeared to change a couple times while I was there. First it was a software company. Then it tried to become a payments + software company. In the end it seemed to be a mergers and acquisitions company. Instead of creating their software because they were good at it, they just bought other companies to do it. Usually, they bought businesses with a great user experience (UX). However, as they integrated those businesses, it did not seem like they wanted to keep the roles and environment that supported a strong UX. Instead, it seemed like they only wanted the technology as a checkbox for their sales team. UX theater became rampant. Big UX issues were ignored, new features were released to compete as MVPs, barely functional. Promises were made to iterate, but they never came. The company seemed to have lost their ability to build new products and could only acquire them. There were some teams who did great work and fixed issues as a unified UX-focused team, but this was the exception that proved the rule. New features were a gamble they'd increase sales volume, not a measured improvement to the UX. Why this narrative and how does it relate to the cons of working here? As someone who worked supporting the user, these practices made life very hard. Angry, confused customers every day. A support team with very few resources to actually support. Patchwork fixes to prop up lacking experiences are your life. Very pessimistic or numbed work colleagues. Toxic positivity. So if you're applying to a sales role, you're going to see a well-oiled machine. You will likely be celebrated for hitting your targets. You will work very hard to sell. If you're applying to a development role, take care. You will be working in a small feature mill. You might know what you're releasing is crap, but most others will not care. Projects will be unfinished. If you're applying in a user-centric role, stop. Your work will be suffered and rarely valued. You will only be putting out fires. Your skills will be barely used. Strategically, you will not have a seat at the table.
