Pros
- Hard-working engineers and product managers who are dedicated to solving whatever problem is thrown at them. - Above-average salary and benefits for the area. (Though, much less than the West Coast or in any major city.) - The company has onboarding sessions specifically to help understand the application. This is very helpful, given the complexity of the system and the fact that most people are not familiar with the construction market-space. - Even though it's a 9-5 job, you have flexibility; for example, if you need to run an errand, have a doctor's appointment, etc. - On occasion, the company demonstrates semi-random gestures of appreciation after good work or a stressful period.
Cons
Dismayed at the company's stagnation (especially with regards to technology), I had been considering better opportunities for some time, but decided to give CoConstruct a chance, with the belief that things would change once a CTO/Head of Engineering came onboard. Unfortunately, things didn't change; longstanding issues were still there. And what's more, the CTO, Odell Tuttle, proved to be a toxic, abusive manager. There are numerous examples of bad behavior, but I'll highlight a few. When the CTO didn't receive my approval for a certain decision and I offered professional opinions that he didn't like, the CTO tried to gaslight and discredit me, belittle my job role, and would suggest that my judgment can't be trusted. The company constantly preaches their core values; yet, in hypocritical fashion, the CTO regularly said things that are inappropriate for someone in a position of authority. The CTO is dishonest and manipulative. He has threatened my employment, citing accusations that were inaccurate, grossly exaggerated, or simply absurd. One time, he suddenly and unexpectedly scrapped a project that the team had invested a considerable amount of time into. Given that the company had advertised the project in the recruitment process, this is like a bait-and-switch, and some team members quit not too long after. Aside from his toxic behavior, Odell Tuttle had implemented a number of bureaucratic policies that reduced productivity and failed to produce the intended objectives. For example, engineers were given a quota of unit tests they were required to churn out every week. Another initiative was to spend at least one hour per week estimating user stories -- even if there weren't enough discussion items to last the hour. These failed policies are a consistent pattern, and while anyone can make a mistake, they could have been easily avoided had the CTO listened to engineers before trying to implement them. In general, distrust of engineers is a systematic problem at CoConstruct. Upper management seems to think that they know better than experts and trained professionals. Despite lacking a coding background, the CEO overrides technical decisions that are suited for engineers. It took nearly 2 years to fill the CTO position, and during that time, the company refused to undertake any significant technical/modernization initiatives because the CEO, Donny Wyatt, didn't trust his engineers to lead such initiatives. As mentioned earlier, the tech stack had been an area of concern for me. Yes, improvements are occasionally made to the application (it's a SaaS company, after all). However, compared to other software companies, CoConstruct lags far behind the technology curve. Unless absolutely necessary, calls for modernization and refactoring the numerous legacy pages are rejected by upper management. New ideas are met with skepticism or dismissed outright. And remember that this was when the company was fiscally well-off. Now, unlike the rest of the tech industry (which is thriving), because of the coronavirus's devastation of CoConstruct's niche market, the aversion to change and new ideas will likely be stronger. As Steve Jobs once said, many companies don't know what to do with talent; they want to hire great people and then tell them what to do -- CoConstruct exemplifies this. Even when there's near-unanimous agreement among product and development, upper management will come up with some excuse as to why it can't be done. Ironic -- because the CEO and CTO constantly boast about how amazing CoConstruct is, and how "boldly innovative" and "experimental" they are. Because he thinks so highly of himself and his company, Donny Wyatt simply can't handle criticism. This was perhaps most conspicuous during stand-ups, when he would become defensive and indignant or throw a tantrum whenever developers criticized or questioned his ideas. Another example is when a private company assessed the strengths and weaknesses of CoConstruct, and Donny became upset at their analysis and dismissed their feedback. When something doesn't work out, outside consultants and analysts are blamed or portrayed negatively; failures of the company are downplayed. Admitting fault or taking responsibility isn't part of leadership's vocabulary. You can read for yourself from the various negative Glassdoor reviews: how certain common complaints keep showing up (CEO doesn't listen to feedback/employees, is a micro-manager, preaches core values but doesn't practice them, etc.). They keep reappearing, meaning that those issues haven't been resolved. Do you see any instance where he says something like "you're right -- this is an area that we need to improve"? Donny's replies (albeit, done "politely") is about telling the reviewer why he/she is wrong and why his decisions/policies are right. To be clear, I'm not criticizing developers or product managers; as mentioned before, they're a hard working group of people. And yes, CoConstruct management has occasionally done some positive things as well (like switching from Scrum to a Kanban process). Nonetheless, it's clear to me that leadership in engineering has been a hindrance. Due to their conservatism and under-resourcing the development team, CoConstruct has been playing catch-up to their main competitor (despite that both companies were founded at about the same time). In any case, my bigger concern was CTO's abusive/toxic behavior. Does my experience mean you will also experience the same treatment from the company's CTO? No, but chances are, it's not an isolated incident. At the time of writing, CoConstruct's "CEO Approval" and "Recommend to a Friend" ratings on Glassdoor are below 70% (now compare that to other tech companies or even CoConstruct's middling rival, Buildertrend) -- and this is despite the fact that the company urges employees to write positive reviews. And over the years, critical (though, fairly innocuous) reviews have suddenly "disappeared" from the site, so I strongly suspect CoConstruct has been flagging its critics, and the original posters simply forgot to re-confirm/re-verify their review. That itself should raise eyebrows; good companies don't need to constantly hover over Glassdoor reviews or expurgate critics. (This also serves as a lesson to all readers to periodically check your account in case certain individuals/employers try to flag your post.) In previous Glassdoor responses, Donny Wyatt has tried to blame me for other employees quitting (even though I had already left by this point) and claimed that my posts violated Glassdoor policies (n.b. all Glassdoor posts are reviewed and must pass their guidelines before being published). Such claims are baseless and devoid of reality. They are forms of disinformation that don't address my critique; but rather, are intended to deflect, discredit and cast doubt on anyone who criticizes the company -- Donny himself said his accusations "cast a shadow on [my] review." And he concluded his vehement rant saying, "we made the right choice in not having this person continue to be part of CoConstruct." This reiterates my previous points about upper management's toxicity and inability to listen/handle criticism. And it's particularly ironic because on my last day, Donny was offering nothing but praises for my years at CoConstruct (as did several co-workers). It's classic Trumpian-like behavior: the CEO has narcissistic delusions of grandeur and touts how great his company and employees are; yet as soon as someone chastises or highlights misgivings, he lashes out, completely reversing his position, and claims that I was a bad employee and the company was glad to have gotten rid of me. And no, I wasn't terminated from CoConstruct, but given my experience, I fully expect the company to come up with some sort of excuse, red herring, or fabrication to dismiss my comments (all while the CEO tries to portray himself as a "Nice Guy"). Given all of this, it's not hard to see why CoConstruct has struggled for so many years trying to hire new developers. And on more than one occasion, the company hired for the CTO position, and those individuals quit before even starting their first day. To quote the well-known Gallup finding, "75% of workers who voluntarily left their jobs did so because of their bosses and not the position itself." So, the next time an employee voluntarily walks away from the company, realize that there's a 75% probability that this was a result of management.
