Pros
- Cool product
- Fun and friendly coworkers some of whom are also very intelligent and knowledgeable
- Good work life balance
Cons
1. Management lacks vision
Many senior managers and some junior managers don't understand the technological depth beyond the big picture and as a result don't know how to mobilize resources towards a collective vision. Worse yet, I'm not sure they have a vision! Company objectives change every season and projects are left incomplete. If a half-baked idea made its way to corporate goals, then the project gets done only to be undone and redone again and again and again!
2. Inability to manage company finances
CFO and finance team has seen much turnover. Money is spent lavishly to appear on par with silicon valley software startups: Extravagant holiday parties, fully stocked snack bar and fancy company wide planning meetings hosted at hotels. This may seem great but not when hardworking employees are getting laid off because management forgot to raise money before they decided to spend beyond their means.
3. Too many managers and few individual contributors
One thing that has constantly grown is the ratio of managers to individual contributors. They keep getting promoted from manager to Director to VP. And in order to justify the inflated titles, they also keep hiring more junior managers and adding layers. Some teams have 3 managers to 1 individual contributor. Too many "stakeholders" need to be pleased and nothing ends up getting done because too many voices need to make sure they have the last word.