I witnessed the birth of this company and endured at least 7 CEOs, each one bailing out with a golden parachute after they pummeled the culture and morale. I witnessed entire offices shuttered after working (sometimes covertly) to replace their staff with less effective employees or shoestring automation. Exploiting acquired company technologies of their customer base to show Gartner the appearance of growth while destroying the hope of improvements by removing knowledgeable workforce and stripping them for parts. I witnessed laying off of hundreds in the midst of the claim of “record profits”. It was never clear where the company was headed, because I don’t think they ever really knew. Just gotta last one more quarter and it’ll all turn around, right? The stress of quarterly concerns that your career may suddenly end, that the company may be sold out from under you, or all the hard work you have endured was all for nothing was immense and unrelenting. The only management that survived through the years were the ones that could roll with the punches long enough to outlast their superiors (who would get replaced during the next round of acquisitions) or keep their division snowed until their direct reports quit or were let go. C-level backstabbing was rampant and necessary for their personal survival. This was not always the case. This all began when we were acquired by a capital company and slammed together with other tech companies.
