The culture just hasn’t caught up to the level of ambition in the products. There’s a consistent gap between how much is expected from people and how little they’re supported, recognized, or compensated in return. Leadership talks a lot about innovation, but most decisions are reactive and short-term, and speed almost always wins over thoughtfulness.
There’s also an overreliance on co-ops and early-career hires to fill critical technical roles, rather than building and retaining experienced teams. It saves money in the short term but leads to high turnover, knowledge gaps, and overburdened full-time engineers who constantly have to retrain new people instead of focusing on growth and deeper development work.
Pay and leveling are well below market, and conversations around them tend to happen only when people are already on their way out. There’s also a lack of trust and communication from the top down. Teams do incredible work but often feel invisible. The environment rewards firefighting and endless hustle more than sustainable growth. The people make it bearable; the system makes it draining.
