Pros: Airbnb has a strong positive culture. People are genuinely invested in the company/product and constantly talking about ways to make it better. It's intoxicating and makes it a lot more fun to go to work and think of your own ideas to improve Airbnb. For an engineer, a relatively small team (~140 engineers) working on a complex product makes for lots of opportunities for impact and ownership, even in the first couple of months. The fast growth also adds to the ownership and career advancement opportunities, since a relatively short tenure at Airbnb can become seniority with all of the expansion and hiring. Additionally, I feel like I've learned a ton, both from other engineers and by working collaboratively with designers, data scientists, and producers (product managers). Overall, I don't think I would have shipped nearly the diverse and impactful set of projects at another company, nor feel the same sense of community among my team and coworkers. I interviewed at many companies before choosing Airbnb, and I've never even been tempted to look back!

Cons: The product development process at Airbnb is chaotic. Features usually start as a brainstorm with input from designers, producers, engineers, etc., and coalesce into a (slightly) more concrete roadmap, with the producer taking the lead on shaping the plan. This roadmap can then shift as priorities or situations change, meaning you need to be able to roll with the punches and thrive on a little chaos. But it's not all a con, as having input into the product as an engineer is fun, and the system gives engineers a lot of autonomy and discretion on their projects.

Pros: Good perks and good compensation.

Cons: Large, can feel very Orwellian at times.

Pros: Most people are extremely nice and driven at Airbnb. You can really find whatever you are looking for in a team. The tech stack is a priority for the company, which makes it a great place to work as an engineer. We have tech talks at the office, open source projects, stipends to attend conferences, etc. We encourage novel/optimal technical solutions even when the project may take more time, and we are trying to build with the long term in mind.

Cons: Office politics can be frustrating. Designers have too much power, and many don't know how to build UX or be on top of projects. The quality of engineers is highly variable.