Cloudera

Cloudera is a good place to work as an engineer. I can see that the company really takes care of its employees, and I feel a sense of loyalty because of this.

Work-life balance - From unlimited PTO to "unplug" days that force everyone to take time away from work, Cloudera really does "walk-the-talk" in ensuring there is a sustainable work-life balance.

Peers - I have been fortunate to work with lots of smart people at Cloudera who are experts in numerous disciplines. You'll probably work with the person who wrote the book on subject X at some point.

Management - Management focuses on transparency and regularly makes itself available to answer questions from rank-and-file employees. Management seems to genuinely care about the employee experience.

Growth - The company is reorienting itself to head off competitors and the ever-evolving competitive landscape. This can be chaotic, but also provides interesting challenges and opportunities to learn and grow. If you want to engineer big data products, Cloudera is the place to be.

Lacks clear direction - A clear direction is rarely shared by everyone. It doesn't feel like we are all focused on moving in the same direction. Major initiatives do not seem well-organized and can be chaotic.

Overseas hiring - Most of the company's hiring is occurring overseas in lower-cost markets. If you lose an Engineer in the US or UK, you're most likely going to have to back-fill with someone from a lower-cost market who doesn't have as much experience or knowledge.

Remote first? - Cloudera is trying to evolve into a remote-first company (as many others are too), but not making enough progress in this area.

Home office - There is minimal assistance in maintaining a home office for remote workers. The company only provides a laptop and a one-time stipend which won't even cover the cost of a desk. You'll have to pay for everything else out-of-pocket.

Open source - I used to enjoy contributing to open-source projects as part of my day-to-day job. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case due to the company's evolving product strategy.