Pros
The engineers and designers at the company are passionate and highly skilled. While personalities vary, they are consistently empathetic and positive, making the work environment enjoyable. The people doing the actual hands-on work are a pleasure to collaborate with. The challenges are both complex and novel, offering no shortage of engaging problems to solve and learn from. The company’s product design and vision are ambitious and, if realized, could be a leap in the robotics and cobot industries.
Cons
Leadership—particularly the CEO—lacks trust in the engineering process. Timelines are unrealistic, and priorities shift unpredictably. Major projects are often announced with great fanfare, only to disappear from focus until months later, when leadership panics over suddenly tighter deadlines and budget constraints. The company struggles to retain high-level leadership, with multiple Chief and Head positions leaving during my short tenure. Rather than following the philosophy of "plan for the best, prepare for the worst," leadership frequently backs the company into a corner. In these situations, engineering teams are pressured to make rapid progress at the expense of quality, maintainability, and safety. This often leads to avoidable issues—such as component shortages—leaving the company without viable SKUs to deliver to customers. The CEO micromanages engineering decisions, despite their primary role being to sell products and build relationships, not to get bogged down in technical minutiae. This obsessive involvement causes them to miss the bigger picture: shipping a functional, reliable product. A "Not Invented Here" mentality is pervasive, with off-the-shelf solutions—like motor drivers or basic software tools—dismissed in favor of custom-built alternatives, even when unnecessary. This extends to critical systems such as motor control, parts inventory management, and essential software tools. The company is stretched thin across half a dozen large-scale projects, each of which could function as a standalone startup. As a result, engineering teams are forced to switch contexts frequently, depending on which vendor is exerting the most pressure to ship their product. Finally, the CEO lacks the interpersonal skills necessary to lead a growing company. One evening, I received an unexpected phone call from the CEO, accusing me of scamming the company by working two jobs. The sole basis for this accusation was the perceived lack of progress on projects—if things weren’t moving quickly enough, it had to be due to insufficient effort. Although the accusation was both unfounded and insulting, I responded politely but firmly, explaining the true state of the engineering organization and outlining the realistic pace at which the team could address problems. The next business day, I was abruptly fired and offered a meager two weeks of severance, contingent upon my signing a non-disparagement agreement. To make matters worse, this termination was timed just a few days before the end of the month, ensuring that I would lose my health insurance with minimal notice.