Pros
Met some good developers there
Cons
Low salaries - They trick you by offering their stock plan. Neo’s stock plan is a joke, they have assigned a number to their stock, by just extrapolating to a ridiculously high valuation of the company in future and lure new joiners into accepting that as major portion of their compensation. Inside, some people have not received any base pay increments despite meeting all set expectations and promotions for last many years. Their base pay remains low year on year, the fictional stock value may be added which accounts to nothing, the stock is already diluted thin. Salary negotiation before joining is your only chance of getting a good base pay. No RRSPs, below average medical, so better to try getting everything in negotiations if you are ok working for a below industry average salary. No WLB - People are expected to be active on Slack even on a non release/critical day, teammates expect you to respond to a message on a weekend/holiday/time-off/midnight and it is considered bad if you miss it. Sometimes, people would create PRs on a weekend and if it isn’t reviewed, it is called out in stand ups just the next working day. It is a five days, in-office org, one team was even warned they were taking too many WFHs. Favouritism - There are internal groups - SkipTheDishes old timers vs the rest, Calgary vs Winnipeg (WPG devs are second class citizens). You start seeing that some people are the favourites and they get special treatment. Your suggestion on architecture and design has a chance of getting accepted if you belong to a “favourites” group or you convince a member of the elite group. So if you plan to join, be prepared to see this thing across all teams. Micromanagement - Every other person in Neo is a Director and the title is just to satisfy egos of old timers. A single one-on-one with a director is enough to get a sense of how clueless they are. They are there to just micromanage people. During one on ones, directors don’t have clear answers and suggestions and can be seen struggling. Last resort, they start comparing you with other people by naming them (worst thing to do for a manager) rather than working on your own development. I have heard directors asking people not to use office phone booths frequently, even when they arent blocking anyone from using these. So if you’re comfortable being watched over the shoulder all the time, you should be fine here. No job security - You see people working with you on a critical project and gone the next day. If you raise this with them, they will throw “hustle culture”, “startup mentality” and some random motivational thought from Instagram philosophers at you to prove job security is for the weak headed. Advice - If you are joining just to get experience, don’t stop interviewing elsewhere and switch as soon as possible. If you are still going to work for a toxic company, why not work for more money and perks? Why Neo then? All the > 3 star reviews you see on social media, notice the tone. Those reviews are subtle glorification of a toxic work culture by calling it “not for everyone”, “startup mindset” etc as if Neo is the first startup anyone has seen on the face of this planet