How are the career development opportunities at Ookla?

With recent leadership changes, the bright side is that management is more clear about project goals and timelines. This has traditionally been a weak point in my opinion.

The not so bright side of recent leadership changes is decreased openness, and increased secrecy. Layoffs are treated as something normal and a threat to force more productivity from workers, which they were not before. The historical problems of the engineering department have continued or gotten worse. A few engineers get to take on all the interesting work, and everyone else is treated as machines to crank out code. This creates a culture of scarcity and territorialism instead of collaboration. The promotion and pay raise criteria is opaque. Career growth is often actively hindered by leadership. I remember once asking for the company to pay for my ticket to a work conference so I could improve my skills, and was told I didn't contribute enough to justify it. Attempts to grow skills outside of your predefined role are treated as a problem instead of something to be cultivated. Bullying and condescending behavior are the norm for leadership, and the increased pressure for productivity by the new leadership team has only made this worse.

There is no question Ookla has a strong foothold in their industry and they deliver high level data to their clients.

While they intend to work on career development, it's not the intention. If you don't meet the bar you are out no questions asked.