Vantaggi
The engineering level has all of the ingredients for a very rewarding and stimulating journey for the next few years. There is a modern stack, interesting problems to solve, a company that must scale, and key individuals in place to drive solutions forward. The platform is still in its relative infancy which means that there is ample room for those that crave autonomy to go out and carve a name for themselves. I've also come to appreciate the outstanding work life balance. There's no counting hours. A few years in I still work at a reasonable pace without a hint of burnout. Anytime that I have worked longer hours, I have done so voluntarily out of my own volition.
Svantaggi
Compensation is growing increasingly uncompetitive. After factoring in several option payouts I find myself receiving 15-30% less than the total compensation paid by other companies in the Vancouver area. Even in a tough economy there is no reason to take that much less than what the market can offer. The demands on the product today have outpaced the competency of the core group of engineers. There is a lot of misdirected energy spent on trying to uphold the culture, techniques, and architecture that worked when the company was in the infant stages of building a SaaS system. We're past that point. Wake up. Adapt. Learn something new. Engineering needs new blood, or at the very least, an appetite to strive for something better.