Engineering Shangri La! - Engineer Ramirez, Johnson, and Associates Employee Review

RJA has been very willing to spend a lot of time training and developing the interns over the summer. I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

Only con I can think of is the traffic coming in and out of Denver

The engineers here are some of the best I’ve worked with. They are talented, supportive, and genuinely care about doing good work. The team itself makes a tough environment more manageable.

The biggest issue is management. Management lacks accountability and consistently fails to recognize its role in ongoing issues. There is a pattern of dismissing feedback rather than acting on it, even when it comes from top performers trying to help the company improve. Leadership tends to be overbearing and micromanaging, often stepping into work unnecessarily (e.g., excessive QC, last-minute design changes), which undermines engineer confidence and autonomy, and also slows down work leading to "firedrill Friday" every week. There is also a noticeable lack of trust in employees. The culture pushes people to just accept things as they are. Speaking up or offering constructive feedback doesn’t lead to change and can sometimes feel like it backfires. There is also a sense of toxic positivity where real issues are brushed aside instead of addressed, and we're supposed to pretend we are happy when things are difficult. Employees are also publicly criticized rather than supported. Work life balance and flexibility have declined, including a reduction in work from home from 2 days per week to only if management trusts you. Pay and performance expectations are another concern. Employees have been underpaid when they didn’t know their worth, and KPIs are used in a way that justifies paying less. At the same time, the strongest engineers are given most of the hardest work, which leads to burnout instead of helping others grow. There is also too much overhead that takes away from engineers’ time and likely impacts revenue. On top of that, the company struggles with client management. failing to enforce payment expectations and allowing clients to treat engineers poorly, with little to no advocacy from leadership. Management does not advocate for employees, and there have been a lot of empty promises over time. Feedback channels are performative instead of real action being taken. Turnover reflects these issues. A significant portion of the company has left because of management.