Where to start? My review will focus on life at Metadot a software developer. These are in no particular order, except to say that #7 (micro-management) is the main reason I left.
#1: The boss considers himself an amazing developer. The problem is, he suffers from the "I can do that in 5 minutes" syndrome newbie developers have. This is bad because if he thinks he can do it in 5, he'll expect you to do it in 5 or less. He will literally tell you to "code faster."
#2:: Benefits: Pay very close attention to the wording during your interviews and offer about benefits. You do not get benefits or vacation time for 90 days. Two people hired while I was here quit within a month because the benefits weren't explained clearly to them. That makes 3 of us. Coincidence? I would never have taken a job with no benefits for 90 days; I have a family.
#3: Time off: When you do get vacation time, mine was 3.33 hours per pay period, or roughly 1 day off every 5 weeks. If you are an hour late or leave an hour early, someone will notice and log it. Your choices are to either work an hour later another day or get your pay docked. Note that this is for white-collar roles like software developers and marketing.
#3 side note: No, you may not work from home. Only 2 people in the office can do that.
#4: Another note about time off. Good luck trying to take it. Six months in advance, I scheduled 4 days off. When it came time to take those days off, I was lectured about "meeting deadlines" and "coding faster." Exact quote: "You know, vacations push our goals farther." What did HR say about that? HR can't do much. HR is also order fulfillment, customer service, office manager, receptionist and snack delivery service person.
#5: Bonuses: You will be lied to about bonuses (if you are promised bonuses). The criteria upon which you are paid those bonuses will never change, but what you are asked to do every day will. In other words, you will be told to complete tasks A, B, C to get a bonus, but as there is no project manager, you will instead be working on tasks X, Y and Z, or whatever odd project the owner wants you to work on that minute. At the end of the quarter, you will be given no bonus because you did not complete A, B, C. What about X, Y, Z? Oh, those should have "just been squeezed in. They are simple." They never are.
#6: Live support. Depending on the product you're working on, you may be answering phone calls and providing customer support.
#7: Micro-management: The boss will literally stand behind you with a stopwatch. He will also ask you for time estimates and then argue with you about them. He will tell you that it would take him "5 minutes" to implement whatever feature you are discussing.
#8: Project management. There is none. One person in the office has the role of customer support, QA, project manager, and is also director/VP/headhoncho of sales for an unrelated product.
The boss will frequently demand an ETA on a feature-set for which has yet to be defined.
#9: Meetings. Not too bad, but you will have a 4pm meeting on Friday, and at your 9am Monday meeting you will be chided for not getting more done, because it has been "three days since our last meeting." (You know, 4-5pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday = 3 business days?)
#10: Misdirection and lack of accountability:
Culture of fear and secrets. Boss / owner will second-guesses every employee on every issue. Marketing, sales, HR, development, product development... everyone gets to argue with the owner.
#11: Company has a 90% attrition rate. 50% turnover just in my first 6 months there. Do a LinkedIn search for "Metadot." Look at all those names. It is a revolving door.
Saw several people quit within two weeks. Many returned to their prior employers. Think about that. If you left somewhere, and it was bad enough at your new place to make you swallow your pride and go back, how bad must it have been at the new place?
#12: Code quality. You are expected to push as much code live as fast as possible. If you write unit tests, great, but you won't be asked to. If you write good unit tests, you will be told you are wasting time.