Airbnb

I would not like to reiterate all the pros and cons other people have mentioned. To me, the most defining difference of Airbnb from other companies I have seen is the company's mission and positive, well-cultivated work culture.

Although Airbnb is a for-profit corporation, we put a lot of stress on our mission - "belong anywhere". Before I traveled on Airbnb after becoming an employee, I had different kinds of traveling experiences and started to think traditional, quick, and hurried ways of travel were not right and possibly even wrong. Although Airbnb makes money from guests and hosts, we also try hard to communicate the reason why you should start traveling with locals on Airbnb, instead of using hotels. Travel experiences on Airbnb are very different from person to person and can be transformative. I feel I work for a company that can change the way people think about traveling.

Airbnb has a distinctive culture. People are smart and at the same time have interesting stories to share, and everyone values learning from others. During my cultural fit interview (Airbnb is the only company for which I have ever done a culture fit interview for an engineering position), one of my interviewers asked me, “What can you teach me right now?” That was one of the most difficult interview questions I have ever had. After a bit of hesitation, I taught my interviewer how to practice standing meditation, which I learned just a week before the interview at an Insight Meditation session.

We ask this question to many candidates. We encourage people to share a "fun fact" when you are first introducing yourself or when you are presenting at team meetings. I have learned people at Airbnb have so many interesting experiences to share and feel humbled to work with them every day.

We have a "Hands on Nerds" session organized by one of our engineers where we teach each other "skills." These can be technical or non-technical, like how to do screen printing or how to dance Bhangra, an Indian traditional dance.

This culture also applies to day-to-day work. After an incident caused by human errors is resolved, engineers write a postmortem and share it with all product team members to teach and share, not to blame and ask for an apology. Senior engineers are willing to spend time discussing your mistakes to help you become a better engineer. Every weekly engineering meeting starts with appreciation time when people thank others who helped them or had done great work that week.

For a general perspective about working at Airbnb, read other people's reviews. Factors like compensation, hours, and perks matter to me, and what is being said by others is largely true. But for me, the mission and the culture are more important reasons that make me feel excited to go to work every day.

I cannot think of major cons, except for things that might happen at any other hyper-growth company. We have a crowded, noisy office on one floor of a building, but in early 2015, we will open up another floor, and things will get better. We had not invested much in new engineer onboarding, but we just started a new 3-week extensive program with classes and code labs, and will keep iterating on the program.

Don't mess up the culture.