Dropbox

Big, successful tech company that makes money by selling a product rather than its users’ private data.

• Product is beloved by many.
• Practically limitless scope for career growth of individual contributors, without needing to transition to management.
• Effective processes for high-level product and technical decision-making.
• Great work/life balance.
• Top-tier office and job perks.

Reorgs are common, and engineers tend to move teams a lot, reducing incentives to write maintainable code.

Aggressive internal deadlines add incentives to write unmaintainable code in order to ship quickly.

Issues are bounced around as teams refute “ownership” of the code in question.

No strong company-wide standard of people management is in evidence, and managers’ aptitude for the job varies.

Career advancement seems to hinge more on following the letter of the leveling guidelines than actual job performance.

The NYC office gets next to no natural light.

Take people management more seriously as a skill.

Work with technical leadership to foster a stronger culture around code quality.