2Checkout is a dead end company run into the ground by a divisive board
Pros
Few remain that I am aware of - the office is close to the freeway on ramp? For technically being located in Grandview, there is ample parking. The kitchen has free soda and cheap snacks... though I do not know if this will be continued in the future.
Cons
All of my observations are relevant from the perspective of a software engineer - I can not strongly speak for any other role at the company, though I will say leadership is weak at the very top, so that may be a consideration relevant to anyone considering working at 2Checkout. 2Checkout is truly run by it's board - the current CEO appears to be mostly irrelevant, as there is now a clear pattern of CEO tenure lasting somewhere between 12 to 18 months. Any plans or direction initiated by a sitting CEO is, if history is any indication, a likely dead end since each new appointee coming in has traditionally scrapped much of the work started under the previous regime. Software developers need to be flexible, we have to be ready to change and move in a new direction with little notice - it's part of the job. However, at 2Checkout, not only is the direction apt to change, but so is the technical stack. In the last two and a half to three years the company has "committed" to changing stacks, first from Perl to Java, then from Java to Ruby, and most recently, from Ruby to C#. In addition to this technical uncertainty, my own personal experience suggests that you are also unable to trust the honor and integrity of the current senior leadership. The most recent CEO stood in front of the entire product development team and, more than once, insisted that no matter the technical stack chosen, everyone would be given a chance to stay on and work towards a common goal. However, roughly a month after his arrival, every engineer that had been hired expressly for new product development purposes over the last year and a half was laid off just one week prior to Thanksgiving. While this sudden near-holiday layoff was bad enough, it quickly became worse when those impacted by the decision discovered that their health insurance would only remain active for a paltry 11 days, and their severance payout would, for the vast majority, only result in an extra two weeks of pay. Will things be "different" or "better" under this new CEO going forward? Everything I write here is obviously speculation, but my personal opinion is that such a turnaround is highly unlikely. The company claims to be moving towards a full rewrite of the payment platform but their actions appear to tell a story that is at odds with the stated goal. I can not speak with any certainty towards what they will actually attempt to accomplish, but I can say that if they are being truthful about the direction they intend to take, then they will be starting over with no domain knowledge or experience on their new product development team. Any engineer reading this will know that domain knowledge is extremely important, so you can imagine the uphill battle likely to take place if a team of green engineers set out to implement a highly complex international payments solution. Finally, even discounting whether or not the new CEO's stated goal is the actual goal, you must always remember that the stated goal is irrelevant since the board is in absolute control, and their attention span has already been well documented. TL;DR - Developers should stay away from 2Checkout - if this is the only job you can find, I'd advise you use it as a stepping stone to find something better. Be wary and skeptical about anything communicated to you by upper management, as any such message is likely tailored to serve only their own ends and you will likely be viewed as a replaceable commodity. Never forget that most decisions of any true import are driven by the board, and therefore, everything you think you know about the stability of the company, the stability of your job, or the direction of your projects, is suspect. In closing... It is my belief that workers need to clearly communicate with each other about toxic work environments, and therefore, I consider this review something that I must do. This is not something that I want to do. This is not "sour grapes". This is not "revenge". My one and only goal here is transparency, and I hope anyone reading this prior to making any sort of decision concerning 2Checkout will find it informative and helpful in that regard.
