Last year, I began working at an edtech startup that was scaling quickly and, as it turns out, unsustainably. The design team grew many times over in a short period of time, and the resulting growing pains taxed our team of talented, amazing designers to the point of burnout. Efforts at standardization manifested as micromanagement, and despite the difficulties many designers pushed themselves harder and extended themselves further—acting with integrity, loyalty, and trust in the company’s vision. The breakneck pace of development was hard on many of us, and try as I might to protect my team from toxicity and politics, I was ultimately not even consulted when one of my direct reports was laid off this week (along with many, many others).
I have decided to leave as well. I am heartbroken because I will miss the many amazing individuals I was privileged to work with. But I am reeling from the rollercoaster of snap decisions, top-down drastic changes, and poor financial foresight that have brought this company from billion-dollar unicorn to near-failure in such a short period of time. Ultimately I could not work a minute longer for an organization that is so reckless with its workers’ well-being and livelihood—prioritizing its profits and investors above all else, forgetting its mission to create educational opportunity, and instead becoming just another predatory, for-profit, unaccredited credential mill.
I knew I had signed up to work with a startup. I believed in the vision and understood the risks. But I believe the edtech community is better than this. We should be treating each other with empathy, respect, and professionalism. We should be taking care of our workers and supporting their growth as individuals, because when we do so it’s good for everybody.