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Hi there, and thank you for taking the time to leave a note on Glassdoor and share your feedback.
I love your phrase "You can learn a lot, depending on your appetite to chase things". Every single leader in the R&D team is a person who has grown with our company over the years. We are making a conscious effort to hire really smart and naturally curious people who like to get things done and give them the freedom and space to create and innovate.
Parts of the product might feel over-engineered at times. In most cases, though, this is a conscious choice and the result of planning ahead and aiming our technology "where the puck is going". For example, most companies with 20 or 100 engineers don't do 100% automated deployments and manage all their infrastructure as code. At Transifex we do, because it allows us to deploy 10+ times every day and be able to scale for Fortune 500 companies. It is also the result of fostering a culture of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Our Product team is consciously focusing on WHAT and WHY to develop something and staying out of the HOW, which is left to the Engineering team.
I'm surprised to hear that you don't have a clear picture of the competition and what to deliver to users mid/long-term! Our Product team sends monthly newsletters with details on the roadmap, what was added/removed on it, where our competitors are and what our focus is for the next quarters and strongly encourages everyone to study it. Please, do review the last few Product Newspapers and share directly with our Head of Product what you'd like to see changed in these details reports.
We do take pride in actively listening to our customers and taking their feature requests to heart. Requests from big customers *are* important to us. "Advocate for the customer" is one of our five Core Values. We're unapologetic in admitting that serving our customers *is* our primary business! We're in business to stay in business, and we have five profitable years in a row to back it up.
Having said that, at the same time, I believe we have been able to innovate heavily and have been able to introduce to the market some of the most modern technologies such as Transifex Live and Transifex Native.
You mentioned you find your work uninspiring. This, for me, is a major issue. I think you should tell your manager really soon without holding back, and with radical candor. "John, I'd like to talk to you about something that is important to me. At times, I find the work I do uninspiring. I'd like to discuss this together and find a way to make the next 12 months the most inspiring work I ever did." If the two of you find it hard to figure it out, invite the Head of Engineering or myself too and we can brainstorm together. Life is too short to be uninspired at work. I'll personally help you find a position at another company that you feel will be more inspiring.
Dimitris Glezos
Founder & CEO