Ventajas
Working at VALD will feel great initially; the hot breakfast, lunch, cheap parking (a decent walk though) and coffee perks are nice to haves, but at this stage you don't understand what the trade-off is. You will in time. The products are innovative and make a difference in the world, and the product release frequency is enough to keep you on your toes. There are some wonderful, intelligent people in the organisation that make working with peers mostly fine if you stay in your lane. My direct manager was great, though they were shielding our team a lot. Things aren't as bad if you don't have to deal with upper management often. Some pros: - Save money by spending $5/day post tax for two hot meals per day - Good coffees and other drinks, $1 each - Cheap parking (offsite, a 10+ minute walk) - Uniforms provided free of charge - The products and software VALD produce will make a genuine difference in the world - Onsite gym, and masseuse - Discounted access to Physiotherapy / Exercise physiology services - If you're a senior software engineer, you're a bit more of a protected species (in regards to the below), if you're excellent and deliver, and are on the right side of management
Desventajas
VALD is possibly the largest, and most wildly spinning revolving door of staff in the tech industry in Brisbane. Which is ironic as their low client churn rate is a prized KPI. If only their staff churn rate was an equal concern, and not seen as a necessity. Burn and churn to deliver on time. A short but non-exhaustive list of cons: - Arrive early. Leave late. Or else. - Be prepared to scrap or fundamentally change your to-spec completed work at the very last minute, due to the ever-changing mind of the CEO that you're supposed to be able to read. Your deadline hasn't changed, don't miss it. - Expect communication from upper management to in verbal so that nothing is in writing - Attention to detail is required to a fault (it's a company value, but it goes to the extreme). - Extreme micromanagement from upper management at all levels - Instead of managing performance and improving staff, management takes steps to constructively dismiss staff and hire other people - Upper management is critical of hiring managers who hire people from outside their 'normal' staff parameters - Attitudes towards nonbinary, non-cisgendered people from a select few people are not great/acceptable - There is a big drinking culture, which may be fine for some, but it is very frowned upon if you don't participate - Extremely cliquey. Management or staff that got in before the company exploded have deep camaraderie, but attitudes and behaviours to the now vast majority who are outside of those groups is unwelcoming - On that last note, it's very "laddy", you need to be one of the lads or won't thrive. The lads will give feedback to upper management about you - Work from home options are given to teams they want to keep happy, for other teams you must be in the office 8:00am-6pm 5 days a week (but remuneration is for 37.5hrs) My advice is don't bother making friends with your new colleagues until you've passed your 6-month probation period, it will make your life easier, as the probation period is used very, very liberally to move on people who aren't the right fit. Passing your probation doesn't change much however. "We are not for everyone..." is the common cry of the CEO, who cites the fast-paced growth of the company and subsequent workloads as reasons why one wouldn't be the right fit. But what this really means is: 'Not everyone is cisgendered, or an athletic male, or an attractive female that accepts casual, blatantly sexist comments being used around the office. Not everyone willingly gives up large amounts of personal time without any compensation or time in lieu, or enjoys gaslighting, or accepts casual bullying disguised as joking around, so we're not for everyone'. If that is the standard you can walk past, then that is the VALD standard, and it is right for you.