Pros
Vecna has a great startup culture that keeps changing every day as we grow!
- Most teams have a pretty flexible work schedule, and depending on the team you can work from home a few days a week.
- There are clubs for everything from crafting, to roller blading, to running club, to foodies, and more.
- Food if you dare - bagel Wednesdays, snacks, and summer BBQ's.
- The people are super smart and great to work with, always willing to lend a hand. Also, with it being such a small company you really do get to know everyone.
- The tech is really game changing for the AGV/AMR industry in that it can plan around obstacles in the dynamic environments they're installed in.
- We have a woodshop, metal shop, laser cutting, 3D printing, and more which we can use both for work and personal projects.
- There is a Diversity Committee with initiatives around hiring, outreach, events, and more.
- Internship opportunities all year round, not just in the summer.
- Benefits are out of this world! Medical, dental, eye care, 401k, gym and tuition reimbursement, Visa sponsorship (for certain roles), and more
- Career growth opportunities are possible within and between various teams in the company
Cons
Vecna Robotics is starting to find it's legs when it comes to growing beyond it's startup culture.
Sometimes we get tripped up having too many experts in the room, or settling on who's responsible for certain actions. We're also still small enough that people are wearing many hats and not having the actual bandwidth to get all the things done. Often this makes it feel like important tasks are not getting done above others. All of these are dependent on the team you're working within, but luckily, they're starting to hire and bring in new talent for roles that will help us grow into that next phase beyond a startup.
We also have the potential for long work days whether or not a timeline needs to be met. Sometimes I think the personalities we tend to hire feel they need to work long hours all the time, but as a manager, I encourage people to take advantage of our flexible work schedules and unlimited PTO. I've found the work/life balance to be ideal for me, but I know others find it hard to draw the line when given so much flexibility in their work schedule.
Opportunities for growth might be a little more limited more because it's a small company. Even so, team members are able to grow with more responsibilities or shift between teams when appropriate.
Diversity is definitely lacking in the executive team. Overall diversity within the company is pretty great for a tech company, but could be balanced a bit more between management and individual contributors. This is something I know the Diversity Committee is aware of, though I'm not sure if any actions are planned around this just yet.
