Bolt

• Known product (especially in Europe and Africa), everyone has heard or used the app at a certain point in time.

• Worked from Romania. Colleagues are really, really awesome. Loved the people there. They are amazing, and I'm really sad to not be working alongside them anymore.

• Pay and benefits were really good (for my level of experience), but may imply dedicating your life to the cause.

• Amazing Summer Summit (party).

This is going to be a long one, but it will be an extensive overview.

Quick background: I was the youngest Data Engineer in Bolt. I have 2 years of experience (at respectable firms) in writing code and being a Data Engineer. I also worked with Machine Learning algorithms throughout the years. I'm a sort of generalist and can usually get stuff done without too much of a hassle. I was hired as an MLOps Engineer (spoiler: has nothing to do with Machine Learning, despite the name).

Everywhere I've gone, I was usually the youngest employee for a certain level of seniority, so people always regarded me as young and ambitious. My main background generally involved Python, and that's what was asked during the technical interviews, where I was classed a "mid" software engineer.

I would later find that they undersell positions. So, someone with 5-7 years of experience could also be a "mid" (with comparable pay). For most companies out there, that's a senior in his/her own right, and the pay is actually much higher than what people earn here (but they're sort of living under the impression that no one will pay them as much as Bolt does).

Pay for my level was definitely above average (but still attainable in other places). For a "mid" with more experience (e.g., 5 years), I think someone could expect 1.5x the pay at least for that level of skill in other places (perhaps even freelancing).

Some "mid" people are managing juniors, having business meetings with stakeholders, and still being perceived as "mid" (and the pay reflects that).

Quick team background: The Data Engineering team has upper management in Estonia, and I would mostly steer away from teams with upper management profoundly rooted in Estonia. Those guys will dedicate their life to this start-up and expect you to do so too.

They'll say all the right things, but actions will always prove otherwise. There is no empathy (not that I wanted it), but not even at the most basic level. They do all the right things, like ask for feedback, say that you should make sure you are alright, but in truth, they say those things because it's their job to ask and tell, not because they care or will actually do anything about the feedback. This was the case for this team; I saw this in two bosses from Estonia.

I would not generalize to bosses from other countries; I think they are actual humans. I met a lot of people (especially from Romania), and the people there are really something special. Do not think that all people in Bolt are the same.

My "bad luck" was not getting hired under bosses from Romania, mainly because the Data Engineering team is from Estonia, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

I was lied to my face on three accounts during my time in Bolt (3 months):

• They say that they don't work crazy hours, but at least 50% of the Data Engineers worked 8h+, and some even during the weekends. They said that this wasn't expected, but when I was working 8h on the job, and tasks weren't getting solved "quickly enough", I was asked, "What are you doing in your spare time to make sure you solve tasks faster?" – so basically asking why this task that is totally new, complex, and unseen before is taking "a long time" (2 weeks), and why I'm not working more during my free time to compensate for that.
• It's actually funny because everyone was kinda on board with having to work more, and only recently did they decide that "maybe extra hours should be registered and paid", instead of actually hiring more people to make the work more manageable (or setting more realistic goals).
• Upon getting hired, they explicitly said that I should ask a lot of questions – and so I did. They said that "If I am not asking stupid questions, I'm not doing something right". By the end of the 3 months, the feedback was that I was still not independent enough and still asking questions.
• Mind you, the infrastructure there is very unique and specific, and there aren't comments in code files. Microservices are basically maintained by the same employees for the past 3-4 years, so alternatives are spending 3 days to understand a code file or just asking someone who knows the code what each function actually does and where it's used in production.
• Because speed of solving stuff was so crucial, I was sort of reliant on asking more experienced colleagues how stuff works to get up to speed quicker. I was expected to perform on-par with people who had 3+ more years of experience. This was not realistic, especially as I was not working on Python (and Data related stuff), but on microservices and complex flows (in Typescript, but that's less relevant).
• So it had absolutely nothing to do with my background, but I was expected to perform just as well on solving Bolt-specific infrastructure and microservices features/issues, as if these things don't take months or years to learn and understand.
• During the interview phase, I was explicitly told (verbally, multiple times, and I asked this multiple times because it sounded amazing) that I could change teams every 3 months, if I wanted. So that meant I could be a Data Engineer for 3 months, a Data Scientist for 3 months, maybe even Backend Engineer for 3 months – and this was very exciting for me.
• I am still at the beginning of my career, so understanding what I like (and at a really high level, alongside some really smart people) sounded like a totally unique opportunity to me. This was totally false.
• By the end of the 3 months, I wanted to change team and was not allowed to. In fact, I had colleagues (and higher-ups) from Romania that wanted me to join their team (that did not imply Data Engineering). My boss (from Estonia) did not let me try other teams and basically just fired me at the end of the probation period.
• That's fine, I didn't want to continue there either, so it was a mutual thing. In my CV, I never lied about having 2 years of experience, and the feedback was that "I am smart but they're looking for someone with more experience". Obviously, I thought, WTF, did you not see my CV?! How can you underestimate the experience needed for a position by a 3+ years amount?? Especially as the average age of the team members was around 30. I was only 22.
• I was also pretty pissed because I had tied some amazing relationships with the people in the Romanian offices, and even though I was told I could switch teams after 3 months, I was not allowed to "escape" from there.
• They said that in order to join other teams, I would have to re-interview. What would be the point of that!? The interviews have to tangent whatsoever with the work that actually goes on there, and are actually kinda easy (in my opinion), and I had just interviewed 3 months ago anyway.
• I think the manager was just sort of frustrated on how badly he had estimated the level of experience needed, and just needed an excuse. He also seemed to be frustrated in general, and always had something he needed to prove (to who knows what other upper management higher than him – in Estonia).

Many of the long-time Bolt employees are leaving, and many of the current employees are kinda frustrated by various stuff (especially in the Software Engineering part of Bolt). If your founding Software Engineers are leaving, maybe that's a warning signal, but Upper Management do not seem to be too worried about that, because they can always just attract new talent.

Take what you will from this information.

I also had other stuff going on in my life, like my master's and a side-hustle. I was very open with HR and manager that I could only dedicate 8h to Bolt, but nothing more, and they said that it's fine.

Like mentioned earlier, I ended up working 8h+ and even on the weekend sometimes, to compensate "my lack of speed", and even so, I was asked if I was really investing all the hours I promised into Bolt.

I had neglected everything else that had to do with my life (health, going to the gym, my partner, my master's, my side-hustle), just so I could be a better engineer for that position.

I think if you want a really demanding job, and you only want to do that for a few years, this is a really good spot to learn. But the struggle will be immense if you have other things going on in your life.

Personal note: Spent around 9 days before getting hired by another firm. Got lower but comparable pay and not even 20% of the stress levels there. Position is as Data Scientist, so definitely more prestigious and well-regarded. Prospect of increasing salary based on performance is also clearer.

Maybe think twice about accepting an offer at Bolt. Think hard and deeply if you would (potentially) sacrifice everything else in your life for the money you get from them. I think it's a matter of personal preference.

I'm beyond giving feedback to you. Thanks for the experience; it was pleasurable and hell, at the same time. I would most likely not repeat the experience anytime soon.