Pros
On the surface, Contra is a great opportunity. Great pay, decent benefits, cool off-site meetups. Amazing low-level team - incredibly smart co-workers. Opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology and a decent amount of autonomy in decision-making and engineering solutions.
Kontras
CEO is married to head of HR - something you don't find out until 6+ months after you're employed. Leadership knows (and is open about) the fact that tech is oversaturated right now and jobs are highly competitive - so the current roster is more or less stuck. They use this to their advantage to constantly shift goalposts with an ever-changing priority list – everything is always a priority. Engineering staff are burning out and celebrated for pushing beyond their limits. A memorable event was when one team member made a visit to the ER for stress-related symptoms - only to return to work hours later - something they were publicly applauded for. What kind of message does that send to the employee and the rest of the team?