Pros
Phenom has a self-starting culture. They encourage employees to think outside the box, collaborate, and problem solve. The company is demanding so they do (usually) make sure to hire extremely talented and capable people. You’ll be surrounded by top-tier talent. Unlimited PTO and generally very flexible schedules. The workload is obscene, but my managers very much had the “I don’t care how/when it’s done” attitude. By the time I left Phenom I pretty much came and went as I pleased and made my own schedule. For most of my time at Phenom, it felt like the sky was the limit. You were told that if you worked hard and stuck around, you’d get to experience history. Always talks about being a part of the eventual IPO. Lots of opportunities for cross-functional work and to pitch new ideas. I originally loved doing these things because I was trying to prove my commitment and showed I wanted to grow at Phenom.
Cons
Now I will counter all of the points I made under pros. 1. Self-starter culture and quality of talent - You need to be a self-starter because it’s chaos. There isn’t a lot of direction. The product changes rapidly, is buggy, and communications aren’t always clear, so you’re constantly chasing answers. You have to troubleshoot in real time with angry customers. It’s always catch up and never proactive. You’re told that this is just Phenom’s way and you need to be special to work there. So when you start to feel burned out, you feel guilty and ungrateful. Also, you may work with great people, but you might as well set a timer the day they start. In my years at Phenom, most lasted barely a year themselves. So you also have to deal with constant turnover which also destroys communication and productivity. 2. I recently made the joke that Phenom offers unlimited PTO so you always have time to take off and cry. Yes, my schedule was flexible. But I worked 12 hour days most days. There was so much work to do, but it wasn’t meaningful work all the time. Again, it was a lot of catch up and patch jobs. Most of my days were spent putting out fires. So my schedule was flexible and some days I logged off at one pm because my brain couldn’t take it anymore, but I was back online by 6pm and worked until 10pm. Weekend work was a normal part of life. When I mentioned that the hours were burning me out, I was told Phenom doesn’t have a “clock in/out” culture. You interpret that how you will. 3. Cross functional work needs to happen because everyone is stretched thin and thrown into their jobs so fast with no training that they constantly need to pull people from other departments in to help. It becomes less about proving yourself and trying to expand your skill set and more about just staying afloat. 4. All the talk of IPO and I’ve never worked for a company that’s less prepared for it. Internal processes are non-existent, leadership is a revolving door, weird restructuring happens in an attempt to fix gaps. Phenom would crack under the pressure of shareholders in its current state.
