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Great Place to Work, But Company Culture Feels Like a Cult

Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Airbnb for 2 years
March 9, 2018
San Francisco, California
3.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros
  • Great benefits and work-life balance.
  • Good hiring bar.
  • Friendly co-workers.
  • Relatively little office politics.
Cons

They love promoting their work culture and think it's absolutely amazing. It's great if you fall very much to the left of the political spectrum, like the rest of the company (and SF). But if you happen to have a couple of right-wing sympathies like me, such as expressing your admiration for Ben Carson in a team lunch, you will be met with frowns and disdain. I overheard an argument where a co-worker said he opposed universal income, and everyone around him started to argue with him. I'm pretty sure if you said you liked Trump in any way, you'd be out of the building with all your possessions in a box.

Also, the co-founders are infallible and worshipped by everyone on the team. Their "Is Mankind" campaign was a terrible, "Emperor's New Clothes"-esque flop, but no one dared to correct them.

Advice to Management

Please include "free speech" as a company value.

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