Photon Health seems to be taking on an ambitious mission by integrating services between providers, patients, and pharmacies, with a strong emphasis on independent pharmacies and telehealth. They're a small, hybrid team based in New York, aiming to innovate in a field that desperately needs it. Their approach includes a unique focus on SMS workflows and transparent pricing, which initially piqued my interest. However, the interview process itself was where things started to unravel for me. It began with an unpaid take-home project that, while comprehensive, lacked clear directions and expectations. Following that, there was a product interview with the Chief Product Officer (CPO), which felt more like a test of endurance than expertise. The subsequent panel interview with the team and a final chat with the CEO did little to clarify the role's direction or how my work would contribute to the company's goals. The idea of engineers as product owners is innovative but was presented as a sink-or-swim mandate rather than an opportunity for growth and collaboration. The expectation for engineers to single-handedly drive projects without clear guidance or a developed design system is a recipe for burnout, not breakthroughs. While I admire Photon Health's vision and the potential impact of their work, the lack of structured support and clear communication during the interview process raised red flags about the working environment.

Summer 2023. One intro call, one paired programming, one system design, one product interview, then meet the team/CEO/culture fit. Correspondence was sometimes slow and a few times I felt I needed to bump some emails, but I attributed it to just a small size. Everyone I spoke to generally seemed to understand the space they operated in and was passionate about what Photon is doing.