Pros
Formerly founded on an interesting and varried business model with great potential for growth that attracted a number of exceptionally talented and qualified individuals. Ownership and management changes have entirely derailed that potential, however, and the company as it currently stands is unlikely to remain viable beyond several years, with a great deal of legal and financial trouble pending as a result of mismanagement and corruption.
Cons
Pages could be written about the abusive, dysfunctional, and on several occasions illegal happenings I witnessed while working for Viglint, but in the interest of not wasting much more of my time and brainpower on this hostile and repressive place, I will leave that to other reviewers. Aside from the nepotism, cronyism, and gaslighting that was instituted and encouraged by senior management, I would like to highlight one particular aspect of the company culture that made me intensely uncomfortable and in the end was a major driver of my decision to leave: an intense, abiding fear of intelligent women and a persistent culture of sexism and harassment. On an almost daily basis, I personally witnessed some of the company's most talented and hardworking employees be abused financially, morally, and emotionally by managers who, due to their hyper-masculine culture of military adventurism, were threatened by and thus acted to punish their best employees. Male coworkers who did not contribute nearly as much to the advancement of company initiatives routinely received financial incentives and promotion opportunities over superior female candidates simply on the basis of gender. I myself benefited from this favoritism on numerous occasions, not least of which when I was offered a significant promotion over a colleague with more experience with the company on the basis of being a "better culture fit." On another occasion, I witnessed two male managers discount a female subordinate with years of directly relevant experience for a position on the basis of her "emotionalism" and "European mentality." In addition to the outright abuse, Vigilint senior staff would routinely browbeat female subordinates into submission, chastising them for the slightest steps out of line and pointing to invented shortcomings as rationale for their inability to receive salaries or promotional consideration equal to their male colleagues. Many brilliant, effective, and highly qualified women existed in a daily culture of self-doubt and emotional turmoil because of the actions of a few small tyrants with power that far exceeded their juvenile capacities for leadership. While I wish I could say that I managed to entirely avoid taking part in this repressive environment, I did on several occasions benefit from increased consideration for promotions and compensation over female colleagues who deserved at least equal, if not preferential, consideration for the trust and faith of leadership. After attempting for many months to work to change this culture, I found myself unable to continue to work in a Cro-Magnon environment that praised ritual hazing and commitment to blind obedience over skill or diligence, and removed myself from the situation rather than continue to make myself complicit in trends which I see as morally, intellectually, and socially repugnant. I would urge anyone pursuing an affiliation with Vigilint to do the same.
