Great coworkers to learn from; management fixation on AI has negatively shifted the culture in the process
Pros
Loved working with some of the most brilliant people I've ever met. Everyone was passionate about delivering excellent trainings, and the camaraderie and culture was invigorating for a while. Had a good relationship with managers and the head of courseware that made me feel valued for my skills.
Cons
Top-down communication throughout the company was abysmal at times. A frustrating lack of transparency with no apparent motivation for it - confused why news or upcoming projects were so rarely broadcast, especially if it affected part time people down the line. Right around the time they had to let a lot of people go was also when there was a push (in particular by the CEO) to embrace genAI, and a few of us part time hires felt like we were gradually being pushed out of the picture to be replaced by chatgpt and other AI tools. Also a frustrating amount cliquey team vibes were beginning to show near the end of my time there. Some successful teams would look after their own and stonewall any new hires brought into their team space, leaving some hires out in the cold with dead projects and no growth potential, while the successful teams stuck to each other and kept becoming the cultural "heart" of the courseware team. In a phrase, things got very "office politics" after a while and it left me burnt out and frustrated.
