Databricks

Databricks has some world-leading innovators who are incredibly accessible and approachable. As an employee of Databricks, it's taken as read that you are excellent within your field. As such, the managers are receptive to your feedback and trust you implicitly; there is absolutely no micromanaging. It's also an exciting place to be. Databricks is taking the market by storm, and being along for the ride is truly a once-in-a-career opportunity. Finally, the team are just fantastic people. It's impossible to walk through the office without exchanging hellos and having a laugh with at least 5 colleagues. It probably takes 20 minutes to get from the front door to your desk.

When you join an early-stage startup, you implicitly agree to do whatever it takes in order to get the organization where it needs to be. Often, that means going outside your comfort zone, doing things which aren't your job, and working long hours.

Databricks isn't an early-stage startup any more, but it sure does act like one. Newer employees are often underwhelmed by the amount of structure and process in place, which makes them wonder whether they made the right choice. This is reinforced and perpetuated by some of the longer-serving staff (particularly leadership) who have been there so long that they see nothing wrong.

Databricks seriously needs to get a grip and start protecting its staff, or people will start leaving.

Please start showing some leadership and put in place some structure to protect people from burning out. Cut down on cross-departmental favours because they're often fulfilled after hours. Introduce better systems for communicating expectations and make people's workloads visible to their line managers, at the very least. Thank you.