Pros: Dropbox is making the transition from a startup to a real company. And they're doing it in an audacious way: make something people want, charge them for it, and sell it to millions of people. There's no "capture a fraction of the transaction cost" or "throw ads at people to extract value from something they'd like to get for free" here. It's a very clear, "make something people want enough that they'll pay you for it" business model. And as a maker, that's an exciting place to be. The level of vertical integration (buy electricity, server components, and dark fiber/sell to mom and pop consumers) is the kind of thing you only expect to see from the phone company, or maybe Google or Amazon. Certainly not from a company with a couple hundred engineers. On a day-to-day basis, that means that the impact any particular engineer can have is HIGH. The overall philosophy at Dropbox seems to be, "hire the best people you can find, and give them the freedom to do their thing." On the engineering side, this means the team is friendly, smart, and eager to help each other, making it a great place to learn. That same philosophy applies outside of engineering, as well. Take the tuck shop (cafe), for example: Chef Brian and Chef Danny have hired great talent and given them the latitude to be creative, and as a result Dropbox has the best company food I've come across. My friends at Google love coming to Dropbox for lunch because the food is such a treat.

Cons: Dropbox is making the transition from a startup to a real company. And that means having the downsides of both a startup and a real company. The real company downsides are pretty familiar: * there's not as much openness as at a small company * you can get stuck with a lousy manager or on a project that gets canned * there's things you can't know and hoops you have to jump through for confidentiality/strategy/compliance reasons, etc. The small company downsides are also real: * your stock is monopoly money * there's a lot of uncertainty * and if you get stuck with a lousy manager, there might not be the systems in place to deal with it. My biggest concern personally is that leveling and career progression seems fairly haphazard. Reviews have happened about twice a year since 2014, and every single review cycle has used a different set of criteria. And they're developing a new one for this fall's reviews. On some level, the things that make you a good engineer are universal across evaluation frameworks, but on another (e.g. does the system emphasize how well you facilitate other teams' work or how well your team executes its own tasks) it can make a pretty substantial difference.

Pros: We have great perks and benefits. The culture is generally pretty good. Good growth opportunities if you are willing to put in the work.

Cons: Dropbox has been shifting from startup-mode to steady-state company mode. This means things move slower and there's more bureaucracy.

Pros: Well-built management team that truly seems to value work-life balance. Industry-leading benefits. Seems to remain committed to a virtual-first commitment (despite cutting some of the benefits). Reasonably flexible working hours with core hours for meetings. Quarterly paid on-sites to hang out with your team and get to know each other better. Working among some of the best and brightest, alongside a very strictly curated culture. I can genuinely say I enjoy working alongside my teammates. Continues to try and innovate (occasionally at their detriment, see cons).

Cons: - Pivots too soon on bets, feels like we're chasing the industry rather than innovating. - Recent instability at the company and current "Moving Faster" directive has employees on edge. - You can definitely feel it in the atmosphere during meetings. - Upper management should recognize the remaining employees deserve some sort of morale booster after recent RIF, rather than further cuts to benefits. - You will not pull in industry-leading talent if your employees aren't your advocates.