Databricks

Great leadership team. Great technology. Financially disciplined management team. Open and honest corporate communications. Technology and solutions that provide real, measurable value to customers. Friendly, collaborative culture; everybody wants to help.

Not so much a con as a warning – this is hard work. There's more to learn than is reasonable, the pace of change is blinding, and the founders are clearly driving towards a goal with everything they've got. The culture reflects that: there's always more to learn or do, and lots of opportunity to help out other folks who are in the same position. Goals are aggressive – sales goals, engineering goals, everything – and we all believe that we can make it happen. But that means hard work and dedication. It's tough to get hired here, and when you do, they expect a lot. If you're not ready for that, if you're not at a place in your life where you can put in the extra effort, it might not be the place for you.

Don't over-rotate on measurement and metrics. Agility and flexibility are, in my opinion, some of the most important things we can do. Getting too specific in measurement usually comes at the cost of flexibility.