Most of us have been in the position before where you've taken a job, only to discover aspects of the job or company you weren't expecting. There is good and bad to almost every company, but in an ideal world you would be able to discover the tradeoffs upfront.<p>- What's your job role?<p>- What do you wish you had known about a current or former company before you worked there?<p>- How do you try to vet companies and job opportunities today?
I am a technical lead.<p>I received a really good entrepreneurial offer through a recommendation and after meeting with the owner of the company, accepted it. The company was in a constant state of firing and hiring. It all seemed so reactionary, almost tied to month-to-month earnings. One bad month could lead to a department restructuring. During a growth period in which they were building up the IT team, there was a lot of optimism about how the company was going to really start investing in it's future. Only a few people were able to attest to the fact that they had seen a similar growth cycle years ago and that those people were gone too.<p>I checked their Glassdoor reviews, but only as an afterthought and after accepting the offer. It turned out that the consistent negative reviews were pretty much a foretelling of what I would see in my tenure there. I also ignored feedback I had received from people who had worked there and had been unceremoniously dismissed, again, after I had already accepted. Had I went with my gut, I would have backed out. Still, I have no regrets, but I will do this research BEFORE considering applying to a position, no matter how good the offer sounds.
I wish I had known more about the legacy tech stack I'm working with, when I was interviewing. I would have still taken the job but it would have been nice to know about the extent of the COBOL horrors ahead of time in order to mentally prepare myself!