Pros
- Over time there have been quite a few great ICs who are quite great to work with. - The business operates in a very competitive space which if executed right can result in a lot of innovation - Pay is competitive - People are great at talking when it comes to promises, support, sales pitches
Kontras
The organization urgently needs a change in leadership. The CEO and much of the upper management appear to lack a clear understanding of how to run the business effectively, frequently blaming external factors like market conditions when things go wrong. The company's vision and goals change with season, with the same ideas being recycled year after year without meaningful execution. There is an excessive focus on the competition, with success being defined primarily by catching up rather than charting our own course. While keeping an eye on competitors is important, I have never seen a CEO speak so negatively about them as in this organization. This pattern of criticism has even extended to potential customers when their needs didn't align with “Codility offerings” for that season. The management displays a misplaced sense of optimism, celebrating trivial achievements—such as changing a button color, adding a new tab to the website, or having the CTO scrutinize pull request sizes—while ignoring serious existential threats to the company. New consultants and senior managers are frequently brought in to support, but their tenure is often short-lived, with blame soon placed on them when they leave. This recurring pattern of poor hiring decisions is particularly concerning for a company that claims to be an expert in recruitment. The pattern typically involves hiring someone into senior management, where they initially build a good rapport with the CEO and are quickly assigned to a wide range of responsibilities, regardless of their skills or background. They are often prematurely promoted before any results are seen, only to quit or be laid off when the outcomes become apparent, leaving others to deal with the fallout. This person then becomes the scapegoat for the CEO and other executives. There is also a visible lack of motivation among individual contributors, with many employees either running side gigs or becoming too comfortable to leave. The company culture is filled with examples of upper management engaging in or initiating gossip, overcommitting to customers and then pressuring teams to deliver, and claiming to be "open to feedback" as long as it isn’t inconvenient.
