Pluspunten
This was a generative entry into the start-up space in the Bay Area as my first full-time job, especially EdTech. At the time of joining, the company was at 70 people, so it's heartening to see how much it scaled even by the end of my time there: onboarding at least double the new employees across all different teams. I enjoyed working alongside many brilliant, diligent coworkers who'd put in so much passion and tireless devotion to the company's mission. Because the team is globally distributed, I learned a lot about working asynchronously on projects while still creating cohesion, which proved to be valuable later on for me. There was fantastically clear documentation and comms, and I appreciated how attentive coworkers would be when I had a question about how to execute a certain procedure.
Minpunten
I have waited to write this review as I wanted to see if time could offer a healthier appraisal of my tenure there. After hearing news of the acquisition, I feel emboldened to share my experiences - apologies for the belated update. Because the company was at Series B funding, there was quite a bit of restructuring; I was hired as an implementation specialist and then merged into the sales team when I was abruptly let go. With this internal shift, I was assigned a new manager who made it very difficult to suggest feedback that would improve the outlook of our operations. Regardless of how gently I couched my opinions, it was clear that there was no receptiveness, so I learned to keep things to myself. At one point, I was assigned to make mock-up product samples for potential partners so they could envision their company partnering with ours. Prior to being let go, my former manager urged me to work into the holidays to document the procedure on how to replicate these mock-ups. I hadn't known at the time, but these instructions were requested because they knew they were letting me go and wanted to retain the knowledge set unique to my role before phasing me out. A week prior, I had attended the San Francisco office's holiday celebration and sat next to the CFO at the time who likely knew they were letting me go and yet portrayed a facetious cheeriness to me. I was let go without severance as I was deemed ineligible to receive it despite being a full-time, un-contracted employee. I'm not surprised that there was a feeling of betrayal common among the ex-employees I've spoken to. It's also quite telling that some of the most prominent, integral members of Forage's team have since left despite being phenomenal at what they did. At the time, the entire C-suite of the company featured no people of color despite many of our users being so. When I was let go, there was yet to be a Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous employee. It was tough not to feel like there weren't some expectations of Asian employees to adhere to the model minority myth and be tokenized for their diversity but pacified for having opinions. Because everyone else seemed to enjoy their line of work, it was disparaging to bring up my observations as there was an implicit expectation not to bring in tension. I really do miss a few of the brightest minds who had such a knack for problem-solving, but otherwise, I am reluctant to vouch for this company's outlook from a culture standpoint, which is inextricably tied to its business trajectory.