Quo Reviews

OpenPhone has no intention of retaining existing talent and new employees will notice this immediately. Promotions are heavily based in politics and taking high value, public facing tickets, while engineers that are keeping the lights on in the background are told to advocate for themselves by engineering management. Staff that has been here for multiple years will now have to wait an additional 6 months and gamble that a potential promotion, if there is one at all, will even meet recent cost of living increases. The cost analysis with recent inflation does not favor staying at this company long term at all. Unfortunately, switching companies for your next pay bump is a tech culture that OpenPhone continues to perpetuate. Engineering management is ineffective, there is no focus, and every project is met with constant bikeshedding. Product has a far too heavy hand in software, and the tech debt continues to pile up because of this. Initiatives to create reliability are met with feature creep. Too many product members for the amount of engineering staff.

When I first stepped into this company, the horizontal leadership structure and the ethos of every voice having equal weight stood out. But as time unfurled, a worrying transition towards a more hierarchical system became evident. What's particularly concerning is seeing many of the competent leaders either leave or be sidelined, while there's a noticeable trend of friends filling key leadership roles. Now, it feels as if being part of the 'popular group' is the only route to gaining respect and recognition. The same individuals seem to monopolize the kudos and award nominations, overshadowing the dedication of countless others. The recent push for an 'anonymous' survey, especially in light of their earlier apathy towards such initiatives, raises eyebrows. ‘Anonymous’ but declare which team you’re on. With the linchpin individual contributors increasingly overshadowed by a leadership lost in self-congratulatory echo chambers, the 'cheetah' mentality, as they dub it, seems less about agile operations and more a precursor to rapid burnout. Couple this with the continuous postponement of raises and promotions, and it paints a picture of disillusionment. The initial promise feels increasingly distant with each passing day.