Pros
rewardStyle offers two major perks: the people and the software. Haha okay, the software is a bit looser as a perk, but it's not awful. Engineers are given some freedom on software decisions, and the tech that is being used is interesting, not your typical corporate java/.net nonsense. What really shines through as a perk though are the engineers themselves. The engineers at rewardStyle are all amazing people, are a joy to work with and be around. I can't imagine a better group of people to have worked alongside.
Cons
But now here's the ugly: engineering is extremely mismanaged and are often the ones to blame when anything goes wrong / off schedule. Product changes priorities often and gives no time for any team to adjust. Engineering gets "re-org'd" practically once every 6-8 months, as the previous "re-org" is often times considered a failure (much like engineering as a whole no matter what happens). The most recent re-org was spawned by the fact that we decided to lay off an entire office. After losing 12+ engineers, we needed to figure out how to move their projects to the rest of the team. After 2 days of planning, the re-org was announced, but was not fully in effect until a month later, despite being told it was effective immediately. Other projects lost team members to fill the gap, without much consideration to what effect this would have on the projects. During the holidays, we had another "round" of layoffs conveniently happening before the new year! If you do not know, "rSTheFamily" is a little saying that this company has - we consider our employees like family. Yet, that does not seem to be the case; even though it's quite an inhumane thing to do that I have never seen this company do before, apparently laying off during the holiday season out of nowhere is the new standard for how you'd treat your "rSTheFamily." This company has absolutely no tact, in terms of planning or in its actions. Morale has plunged, and it no longer feels like the fun place to work that it once was. Additionally, it feels like there is no room for advancement here. Engineers are not given many opportunities to grow. Going to conventions happens very rarely, training of any sort is not offered and has not been offered. Oh whoops, besides professional management training that is offered to those in management, only. Besides that, you're on your own. Lastly, the review system here is incredibly toxic. Last year the review system got an update to be a simple 1-5 scale, but 4 and 5 were unattainable. If you were rated a 4 or 5 by your manager, you’d be bumped down to a 3 and told you were not good enough. HR promised a revamp (in October) in time for this year’s reviews, but nothing changed, save for some wording. Still 1-5. 4 is more attainable, but only slightly! Remember, your contributions as an individual do not matter! If the product team destroyed your projects, it is your fault! :)! rewardStyle is by no means a 2 star place to work. All things considered, it’s probably one of the better places to enjoy your day-to-day. However, it is definitely a 2 star place to develop as a professional and to feel any measure of success.