Dropbox

I chose Dropbox initially because of its good reputation in tech for engineers (Python's founder was once here for ~5 years; you can still see his commits in the codebase), its above-average competitive salary (TC ~250k-270k+), its virtual-first approach (flexible work from home by default), and its mission (focus on community and collaborative tools).

What surprised me once I started here is its focus on transparency, personal growth, and wellbeing.

• Transparency: You receive emails about all its progresses in product, tech, design, business, etc. This is a perfect opportunity for someone like myself who is interested not just in engineering and tech but also other aspects like business and design.
• Personal growth and wellbeing: They host a lot of workshops, events, and meeting sessions where you are encouraged to join and learn about different things (mental health, tech, design, etc.) and meet with other folks in different teams and departments (coffee chats). I like how intentionally they are building a virtual community that focuses on personal growth. In fact, I just attended a workshop to teach ICs what it's like to be a manager last week. Also, you get a $7k yearly stipend that you can spend on anything for your wellbeing, e.g., food, gym, equipment, online classes.

The engineering onboarding experience is not the best. Many internal docs are decentralized, scattered in different places, and outdated. It took a while to dig into the pieces that matter. The good thing is that anyone can update them, so I helped edit and improve some of them.

Dedicate someone to exclusively focus on getting engineers onboard, answering questions, updating docs, and setting things up.