Pros
The only good thing about this company is that you get to work in an industry that is arguably at the height of the hype cycle. Machine learning is incredibly interesting. Getting the exposure and understanding of what that ML actually is rewarding.
Cons
I would have said that the second best part of the company is your coworkers. However, Big Squid just let go about half of its work force and even cut entire departments. While I still like my coworkers, we kept a lot of people that, in my opinion, didn’t earn their spot. Work is a lot more stressful now, and I miss the greater team environment we used to have. Layoffs aside, here is the highlight reel of the cons: - the product provides very limited value for clients (Most complaints come from no advanced features, clunky UI, and an exorbitant amount of pre and post processing needed outside of the product). - internal feedback is not received well, if at all, and that complacency causes our competitors to evolve where we’re not willing to and get better than us. - you have to check your morals at the door. The company recognizes revenue that doesn’t exist. There are fake deals at the end of quarter, execs knowingly fudge our numbers, and they count blatantly churned clients as active. - The management teams’ incessant and overwhelming need to lie about the state of Big Squid perpetuates disillusionment throughout the rest of the company. No employees really knows where we stand as a company and no executives know what it takes to make a client successful because they’re too busy pretending like they ARE successful. - very few experts on machine learning in the building (although everyone will act like they are). Everyone has close to no experience actually modeling. - Hardly anybody actually works. The company value of “freedom with accountability” is abused by nearly everyone. Coming into the office for two or three hours a day isn’t enough when the company is failing. - Theres a prevailing sense of fear now. We’re all terrified of losing our jobs and don’t trust anything our management team tells us. They’ve lost all credibility both professionally and personally.