Pros
- Strong engineering culture that cares about doing things correctly and with quality instead of rushing out half-baked features
- Merit based, people who contribute significantly are fast tracked in the promotion/raise cycle.
- Employees are given a lot of ownership over the code, allowing them to make design/architectural decisions
- No micromanagement, a largely autonomous culture where you really can spend the majority of your time writing code
- Everyone has the opportunity to voice their opinion and get involved in the product management process or help shape the technical direction of the product
- Great product that solves real problems
- The company has a solid business case and track record of growth
- Good work/life balance... people probably average 9 hours/day (except on release days)
- No arrogance policy, the company makes an effort to hire people who are pleasant to work with.
- Typical startup perks. Catered lunches every day, stocked kitchen, all types of coffee machines, medical/dental/vision premiums covered, unlimited leave policy
Cons
- Sometimes the lunches aren't very good
- You have to stay later on release days (every 2 weeks) so you can be available to fix any issues with your code. Usually about
- There's an expectation that people are responsible for their own work, so you need to manage your time to ensure you can finish your tasks on time and don't over allocate yourself.
- Not a lot of handholding which can be a problem for somebody that's not as independent
