Synack reviews

The listed pros are the only positives to be found at this company. Unfortunately, the engineering department is a disaster. The chief product officer is in charge of the engineering team despite lacking a technology background. The product management team prioritizes new features over ongoing work, and the CTO is uninvolved in any technical discussions. There are rumors on the FTE staff that the CTO's abrasive personality caused problems in the past, and that seems to be true based on old Glassdoor reviews. In addition to the issues with company management and infrastructure, it seems that the engineering team is also neglected in favor of the "front end of the house". Resources are disproportionately allocated towards these areas, with little regard for the technical requirements of the product. The sales team is constantly pushing for new features and functionality, often agreed to without considering the technical feasibility or impact on existing systems. This puts immense pressure on the engineering team to deliver, but without the necessary resources or support to do so. As a result, many engineers feel undervalued, with their contributions to the company largely unrecognized in team meetings. The company operates as a service company rather than a SaaS, meaning that most processes are manual. APIs and tech debt are neglected, and different engineering teams operate under different standards. Additionally, around half of the engineering team consists of contractors, and most other teams are not employed directly by the company. On the people front, the HR team sends regular emails asking for positive Glassdoor reviews, primarily targeting new employees still in the honeymoon phase. The company lacks basic benefits such as a 401K match, so it is advised to plan for retirement elsewhere. Recently, the company announced an all-company fly-out to a resort in San Diego, followed by a workforce reduction (i.e. layoffs) a month later. This is a clear sign of mismanagement, the CEO sent the usual exec-u-speak message "taking responsibility" however it's worth noting that none of the executives responsible for these decisions will be losing their jobs. As the Sales person in the previous review mentioned, this is not a great look after a large round of layoffs.

- on rare occasions, the job is required to work outside of business hours ( its the nature of the business) - as the company expands the org structure is constantly shifting too (so if you are not flexible these can be frustrating)