Misleading job description with poor organization and standards - Recensione dipendente - Interviewee presso Built Robotics

The company is well past the 'experimental prototype' phase, and is iteratively improving a codebase actively being used to dig production trench. The engineering approach and has pivoted dramatically since the pre-COVID days, and a lot has been rebuilt from the ground up since then. Good software development practices are enforced with a stringent pull request process that emphasizes simplicity, robustness, understandability, and automated testing. They tend to push for having fewer features that are very reliable instead of more features that are half-baked. If you're coming from an academic robotics background, you may find some of the approaches unconventional. That can take some getting used to, but there is usually good justification for it. It may be simpler and easier to maintain than the 'conventional' approach, and has probably proven to be effective in the field if it is still being used. Remote work has largely been embraced, but the environment is still pretty collaborative despite this. The engineers are passionate, easy to work with, and seem to be sticking around.

They expect a lot of productivity out you. This could be a pro or a con depending on how much you enjoy the work and how much time you are willing to commit. 9AM-7PM PT are the standard hours, but some work other schedules, especially those in other timezones. They are quite accommodating if you need to step out for whatever reason every now and then - you're just expected to work a little more some other time to make up for it. They ultimately expect 50 hours a week, and it's not uncommon to see some choosing working more than that. I'd personally give the company a 5 star rating, but if you don't love the work or don't want to work a lot ​it's probably not the best fit for you.

Lots of interesting coworkers but they may only stick around for a few months

Incredibly detailed micromanaging from leadership with little to no previous robotics or construction experience. Sometimes I was told exactly how to do my work and any deviation whatsoever was frowned upon. Because of poor leadership and less than stellar engineering progress has slowed to a snail’s pace and is arguably regressing in certain aspects. Problems can’t be solved with techniques that leadership doesn’t understand. Unfortunately this means some modern robotics methods are out of reach. All problems are approached by saying “What is the fastest/easiest way to bypass this?” or “How can this be fixed in 1 line?” rather than “What is the proper fix?”. Testing is discouraged because it takes time away from developing new hacks. The voluntary turnover is extremely high. I believe the annualized rate would be near 100% based on the past 6 months. Work hours are a strict 9-7 with absolutely no exceptions. If you are 3 minutes late there is a decent chance someone will notice and broadcast that you are late in the general slack channel. Need to leave an hour early to go pick up your child every day? Good luck - you might have to quit. Working with the CEO is acutely unpleasant - try to avoid it at all costs. I have seen people decide to quit after working directly with him on a project.