Pros
Working at DMC allowed for extensive personal growth, navigating what does and does not work for me, drawing boundaries between work and life, being part of many aspects of a small company, and being able to apply technical skills honed over many years prior. Non-leadership colleagues were a joy to work with and had a good culture amongst themselves.
Cons
The leaders of upstream development were toxic, and lacked actual leadership ability. They did not make tangible attempts to better their leadership. There was an expectation of more than 40 h/week. Including both more than 9-5 and M-F. Leadership was not receptive to critiques over the work being done; however, they were more than happy to critique everyone doing the work. The company operated on second-hand, out-dated equipment and purchased items for science from non-scientific vendors.