Vantaggi
National Pen used to be a great place to work a few years ago. The managers in India and the culture in India is still great but are being impacted by US counterparts.
Svantaggi
The senior managers of National Pen based in the US appear to focus primarily on their own growth, with little regard for fostering growth stories from India. For instance, a consultant who joined recently has now become a VP of Product Management. A quick glance at his LinkedIn raises questions—was this rapid growth due to exceptional talent or merely strong connections? Similarly, our VP of Engineering seems more focused on sidelining competent employees to secure his own position. This is the same person who failed to renew the SSL certificate and shifted the blame to others. Repeatedly making significant errors yet refusing to take responsibility is a troubling pattern. The frequent restructuring of teams is another issue. It began with the two-pizza team model, then moved to having product managers report to tech managers, later to the VP of Product Management, and now under the VP of Engineering. This constant reshuffling indicates a lack of a clear strategy or direction. There’s an overall sense of disarray. Senior managers appear to lack a cohesive strategy, instead chasing after trends inspired by companies like Spotify and Amazon. This results in inconsistent leadership and shifting expectations, with managers changing almost every year. The situation is compounded by over-hiring, which now threatens an inevitable layoff season in India. Even within the US teams, there’s visible tension and politics, with team members struggling to collaborate effectively. The state of leadership and management is concerning, and it feels like National Pen is in need of a significant course correction.