Pros
Technical team were some of the kindest, smartest people I've worked with
Cons
Severe disconnect between non technical and technical roles created an "us vs them" environment. Overly sensitive team members would not approach grievences professionally but would discuss other team members without their involvement. Most information is passed around on a hearsay basis. All feature related discussions are unnecessarily held on a "Need to know" basis, technical teams would have zero input on scope, time or complexity and would be given work once it's all decided by non technical stakeholders with strict unfeasable deadlines. You will find more transparency staring at a brick wall. The business' approach to communication and transparency can be closely attributed to their response to the recent staff data hack, where the entire HR system was breached. It been kept as close to the chest as possible, with ex employees informed reactively after a number of complaints to the ICO, with radio silence since, despite the ICO recommendation that ALL data subjects be updated as soon as possible and kept informed of any updates on the matter. The codebase is horrendous, an abundance of legacy code with no real standards followed. Due to deadlines most work would be completed to "get it done" rather than consider the wider implications. This lead to a lot of stacking and bolt-ons to an already unsteady and unscaleable foundation. The entire codebase is needlessly complex for a retail site. There are a number of team members with decades of experience in various technical industries who's legitimate concerns or suggestions are completely ignored in favour of a small team of "Tech warriors", Lush's name for their technical R&D team. Projects would start with the TW who will discover a solution to a problem, then without consideration of standards or scaleability that project would be passed down to the technical teams with no room for feedback or improvement. You would be expected to get straight to work on features. I will stress that the state of the codebase is not the fault of the current developers. The pressure on them is immense and this is the product and consequence of years of severe negligence from non technical stakeholders towards the technical teams. They can only play the hand they are dealt in the situation they've been put in. Though the technical teams try, there is no real team composition or feeling part of a team. Developers could be plucked from one project to another at a moments notice with no notification to the team or structure to speak of. Overall you don't feel like you're working as part of a team with a unified goal and it can be a very isolating experience. You feel as though you are sitting in a pool of developers waiting to be called to fulfil someone elses decisions, yet will take the fall should it fail or deadlines not be met. There will be days where you will be given no work at all and any requests will be met with an "I'll get back to you" that never arrives. Other days you will be given an untenable task with a strict deadline and heavy micromanagement. If you're looking to develop your skills as a junior or provide your expertise as a senior, this place isn't for you. Due to the way things work at Lush or "The Lush way" as they call it, you will not learn good standard. You will not learn best practise and it would be a backwards step in your own personal development. The most you will learn will be other devs trying to teach you good practise in an environment where you are physically unable to put it to use. If you're a seasoned developer, your workload will be quadrupled yet your expertise, no matter how broad or seasoned, will be completely ignored. Yet the expectation from the business will be on you to solve all their problems with zero ownership or power to be able to make the necessary changes that are required to pluck out the roots of their issues. If your approach to work is to clock in at 9, leave at 5 and just do what's needed of you at the bare minimum, you might consider the role here and that's fine, each to their own. However don't come to this role expecting a healthy environment if you're looking to have your voice heard. You'll only be disappointed. I ignored the warnings of previous reviews given the dates they were posted with the expectation that the passing time had improved the process. It is still the same, and I'm posting what I remember of my experience to warn anyone who reads this as well. Do not work for this company.