Pros: Carta bets on individuals and gives multiple opportunities to grow. There are several initiatives going on in the company, and you don’t need much experience to get involved with them, as long as you have a genuine sense of curiosity and a deep desire to solve problems.

Cons: There’s a lot of politics going on. It can be difficult to get backed up if you don’t build a great relationship with leadership. Certain areas of the company move slowly because of regulations they need to comply with.

Pros: New engineering leadership since last year and new initiatives are helping Carta grow from a startup into an enterprise company. As the company is growing, work-life balance is more flexible than before: working from home occasionally is okay, my daily standup is at 9:30 am instead of 8:30 am, and there is no more required commute once a week to the other office (e.g., SF to Palo Alto). The company is growing and hiring quickly, and we have a lot of interesting projects going on. We have quarterly hackathons to work on new ideas and projects, and regular show-and-tell meetings to present new projects to the whole company. Growth is encouraged with mentorship, and engineering leadership has presented career paths.

Cons: Offices can get crowded at times, with meeting rooms constantly booked. However, the SF office is moving to a new location, which should fix it. As a startup, it's hard for the compensation to match a larger company, though the upside potential of equity is appealing.

Pros: Free lunch, coffee, snacks, and energy drinks.

Cons: Management, company culture, high staff turnover, constant meetings, the messy codebase.