A deeply dysfunctional company where shouting outranks expertise
Pros
Genuinely passionate people in the EMEA/APAC offices who are looking to excel and push the company forward (with little acknowledgement or interest from the US based HQ)
Cons
The environment is structurally hostile to technical accuracy, process discipline, and any form of engineering best practice. Technical decisions are routinely overridden by senior management with little to no understanding of the underlying systems. It’s common for subject-matter experts to provide evidence-based recommendations, only for them to be dismissed in favour of personal preference or outdated assumptions. When facts conflict with leadership’s opinions, the facts never win. Basic IT governance is treated as an inconvenience. Attempts to enforce change control, escalation standards, or non-production safeguards are labelled “bureaucracy,” and challenging unreasonable demands can and do directly impact compensation at review time and overall stance within the company. Public derision in meetings is frequent enough to be considered cultural. Engineers are openly contradicted on technical topics by non-technical leadership, sometimes with laughter or belittling remarks. This is not isolated behaviour; it’s a recurring pattern throughout the entire organisation. Turnover within IT is unsurprisingly high. The environment incentivises firefighting over engineering, obedience over expertise. Teams spend significant time compensating for technical debt that leadership refuses to acknowledge. Critical components of the core product require refactoring, are dangerously inadequate from a performance or security perspective, yet are repeatedly deferred while the same operational issues reoccur. The decision-making model is reactive and personality-driven. Priorities shift abruptly based on who escalates loudest, not based on technical merit or business requirements. Persistent and continuous firefighting is seen as an efficient uses of time. Planning anything is redundant. Projects that are deferred due to persistent firefighting are still demanded to be completed within their original timelines. Daily or weekly planning meetings change project priorities each and every time. Management focus on a "top of pile" strategy. Projects commonly span multiple years and scope-creep into an unrecognisable mess. If you’re an engineer who values stability, technical integrity, or an environment where your expertise is respected, this is not that environment. The talent exists among individual contributors, but leadership behaviour consistently undermines their effectiveness.
