Pay: After realisation of the competitiveness in other companies, I realised pay here is definitely not matching software companies in London. As years went by, I realised that people in other companies were receiving bonuses and also larger pay rises which made me sceptical of the salaries here for Software Engineers. Alongside that fact, in company wide meetings we were all told that Sales would receive a "Chairman's Club", which meant they would have luxurious settings in Europe, US etc for meetings when they met their targets - meaning Software Engineers were angered and frustrated by this.
People: Regarding the management, it seems managers are not assessed, they are given the role of manager when they have been here for some time rather than actually accessing their skills. I think a real interview process is necessary when deciding who should become a manager - not word of mouth or "You have been here some time and proven you're a good Software Engineer", leading code and people are two different things.
Environment: The company promotes a start-up culture but that is beginning to fade as policies are being put in place that is beginning to remove this kind of culture.
Technologies: As a Software Engineer that had been in the company for many years, newer, transitional, technologies are now being brought into the company which I do not have much experience with - meaning when looking for new career choices in Software Engineering they are limited due to the older legacy technologies where most of the time was spent when coding.
Career: Motivation is key, unless you are self-motivated, work can become mundane. At times exciting projects arise but if you demonstrate that you are a trustworthy employee, the company will rely on you to do tasks that are irrelevant to your personal goals and achievements you wish to reach.
