Pros
- Smart and passionate people. - Good team vibe. No glory hogs or people just out for themselves. - Wide range of projects to work on. If you want to experience a complete range of the stack, this is the place for you. If you know what you like and want to focus on something in particular there's room for that as well. - Great perks. Engineering definitely has the better of the stick when it comes to benefits and work perks. - Very flat structure. This isn't like Amazon or Oracle where you have Software Engineer 1-7 and then 100 levels of managers above that. Here it's just VP/Director -> Team Lead -> engineers. All team leads are engineers as well so you don't have some non-technical boss you might find at some other companies. - Management is very transparent and open to ideas/suggestions/feedback. They're all also very easy to approach and love interacting with the whole team. - Dog friendly. If you don't like dogs this could be a con. - People in general are easy to approach. If you need help with something or just want to talk about your work, it's as easy as walking over to their desk and chatting. No one is above constructive feedback of their work. - Any hardware/software/equipment you need can be found or ordered whenever you want. Engineering again seems more spoiled than the other departments in this regard. Multiple times when requesting a new piece of equipment, the first question I've gotten is "Are you with engineering?".
Cons
- Engineering team is on average very young. Meraki does a lot of their engineering recruiting/hires through fresh college grads. This isn't in itself a bad thing but too much of one age/background group can make a team have a hive/like-minded mindset. - Ageism. Related to the previous point. It isn't too bad at Meraki but it's there. This is a problem the whole tech industry has, especially in a talent-full city like San Francisco. Just remember, one day you'll be the old 30-somethin engineer and you won't want to be judged solely on your age. - Getting a little noisy on the engineering floor at times. This is expected when the team is expanding at a fast rate. - Career growth can seem hard because of the flat structure. This can be a deterrent for some if they want a distinction/recognition of skill level and experience. There is no junior/senior engineer or anything like that. Everyone is a "Member of the Technical Staff". So if you're not a team lead, you're just another engineer on paper. If you're one who is looking to climb the corporate ladder it could potentially be hard.