Not great for people-oriented, creative collaborators
Pros
Generous pay and benefits, flexible employee spending (travel, subscriptions, etc.), uses Google Workspace (not Microsoft products), offers merch to employees, allows remote work. Decent chaps, hard working, fair-minded, and an okay work-life balance.
Cons
The company places a low priority on relationships and social/emotional well-being. This culture may appeal to those who favour solo, silo'd, heads-down, fast-shipping, code-centered work in the traditional style of a young Silicon Valley startup. If you need a collaborative, creative, thoughtful, purpose-driven workplace, this is not the place for you. A few red herrings to be careful of: - The word “autonomy.” While team members can technically direct their days, authority clearly belongs to leadership alone. Big changes to the team structure or business are done top-down, via Slack, with no consultation with affected teams. (It can be rather shocking and abrupt!) - The focus on a “maker schedule” is well-intentioned (good for focus!) but can result in low trust and loneliness (especially for workers outside the UK / GMT). - Though the tone of the handbook is quite thoughtful and patient, internally, there is not a lot of patience or time for deep thought. It’s as if they invested in “saying it once,” so they don’t have to say it again. The handbook is a reflection of efficiency, not vibe.