2000s mindset struggling to transform into 2010s mindset. In 2022.
Pros
The Opensee leadership recognises occasionally that they don't have certain competences in software engineering management. If you, a software engineer, carve a stronger position with them from the beginning, they will listen to you about what needs to be done and then even let you do your job. Not too often, but they will. The new VP of Engineering might have a chance to turn things around in his area of responsibility, somewhat. He appears to be sharp. He'd probably have more luck doing his job if hired a year ago.
Cons
If you don't position yourself strongly with Opensee leadership from the day 1, you might as well not take the job. It won't be worth your time in the current job market. The CEO comes from the financial services industry, not from the tech industry. However, Opensee is trying to build a tech product, not a financial product, and the culture the CEO is promoting doesn't align with building quality tech products. The CEO is proud of being a "harsh negotiator" with clients to whom he "sells high", but that also means he'll be "buying low" from employees. If you, a software engineer, do not have strong negotiation skills, expect to be low-balled. Then your work won't be valued. The official line is that if you were "good", you'd be able to negotiate a higher salary. And if your negotiated salary isn't too high, why should your opinion bear more weight? The leadership team has some very outmoded ideas about commercial software engineering that went out of fashion more than 10 years ago. They perceive software engineers as ticket-closing machines who should never be told what the product is for. Enabling software engineers to do their best work is less important to them than staging photo-ops for prospective investors and clients. The software industry permanent shift to fully remote work with all the implications it has on tech organisations isn't understood by the Opensee leadership yet. Maybe in another 10 years.
