Pros
2025 was a very tough year due to the number of commitments made to partners, but folks at the top know this and have been transparent about making improvements to improve WLB in the future. New CTO has been making solid positive improvements to culture, both with his own style and in the excellent folks he brought along with him. Everyone knows what the most important things are to work on to scale the company long term without burning out ICs, and are generally aligned on working on those things ASAP. Company is growing fast and partners are largely very happy with what is being offered, which makes the work a lot more exciting. Also not bogged down with legacy systems, so engineers feel empowered to try out new things. While the performance bar is high, it results in there being a lot of talent all over the company, and a lot of excellent folks to learn from.
Cons
Historically, making a plan and actually sticking to it has been tough, especially as new "emergencies" pop up, or new commitments to partners that haven't been discussed with engineering. We'll see if 2026 is different and plans to invest in the platform that will enable long term, healthy growth come to fruition. Very aggressive pushes to lean on AI are exhausting. CEO is pushing for a max headcount that is very low and feels concerning to most folks on the ground doing the work. The high performance bar means that even when headcount is lean and hiring is slow, low performers can and will be pushed out.
