Any "cons" need to be prefaced with this: remember that Square is an extremely rapidly growing company that feels like a whole new workplace every 6 months. I've tried to only list the more consistent or recurring cons here, but all of them are consistently trending positively (or I wouldn't be working here anymore, really!). Any of these cons could be gone in a month or two, or replaced with new ones. There's just no way to know!
That said:
- Immature leadership has been an ongoing theme for my entire tenure. It's been a problem at every level of leadership from executive on down at some point or another. On the other hand - I think this is to be expected of a company this age and size, and is usually course-corrected eventually.
- Immature HR (incl. compensation adjustment and talent review). First iterations of talent review were downright insulting: we were rated by shape (circle, square, or star) like kindergardeners. Luckily we acknowledged that was a horrible idea and have never done it again - but our cadence of performance feedback has remained random at best. Same goes for cadence of compensation adjustment. If you get a job here - NEGOTIATE UP FRONT - there's no telling how many months or years it might be until someone thinks to themselves "oh maybe we should look at comp again!". Note: this situation has already improved immensely with the introduction of a consistent engineering ranking/ladder system - if we manage to keep it more than a year, that is.
- Rampant politics and personal agendas. To be expected at any growing company. We have them too. Nothing special to see here, move along.
- Oncall policies. No overtime pay for brutalizing oncall shifts are the norm. No compensation for personal phone use either. Occasionally you'll get a "thank you" from someone.
- Not enough bathrooms. Not kidding. Try and find a free stall or urinal sometime after lunch. Good luck!
