Vantaggi
Despite the poor management, everyone besides the CEO has been pleasant to work with. Located near good food options. Pool table. Clean office. Free snacks.
Svantaggi
I don't know where to start. 1. In my time working there, the company was gutted. We went from thirty people to six people within a six month time span. Whole departments evaporated, leaving serious gaps in the product development process. We used to be seated in pods by department; then, after the turnover, we were relocated to a small area near the CEO's desk with its Atlas Shrugged statue. It was like working in a panopticon. 2. There is no more leadership within the company; everyone reports directly to the CEO. However, the CEO does not understand what it takes to build a product outside from his small business-driven mindset and complete lack of technical leadership. Therefore, there is a lack of a proper separation of responsibilities among departments: product managers juggle excessive work at the same time, engineers are asked to carry out responsibilities that do not fall under their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the CEO demands certain things from his workers but is not cognizant of the time and effort required to carry out these tasks. 3. I have been warned repeatedly by coworkers not to trust the CEO. In retrospect, I wish I took their advice to heart. The CEO builds an intimidating work environment that pressures its workers to sacrifice their personal time to supplement the 8-hour workday. Those who do not comply with his vision are judged. He presents himself as genuinely interested in your opinion but is more interested in validating his own vision through yesmen. 4. Terrible place for engineers: lack of general and technical leadership, direction of company is not conducive for engineers who desire to learn, no push to use latest industry-standard tools, technologies, and libraries, large emphasis on creating a minimal viable product as opposed to building a well-tailored product, and stress on very specific technologies that are relevant to companies that primarily specialize in niche fields such as Applico.