Pros: Nearly everything you do can be shared with others, which helps to give a real sense of accomplishment. Work with people from dozens of countries around the world; our internal chat and team calls have made me more aware of events and cultures around the world. A significant portion of your work will involve contributing to open-source software. Everyone is remote. You can work anywhere with no manager looking over your shoulder and no (physical) interruptions from coworkers. The handbook is available for anyone to read, and our issue tracker and merge requests offer useful insight for any engineers looking to apply. If you spend a few hours reading through issues, merge requests, the handbook, etc., you can get a very good feel for how the company operates, including the stuff that doesn't always give the appearance of perfection (I wouldn't have it any other way). Summits give you the opportunity to travel to other cities and countries every nine months to be with your teammates and hang out for a week, about half work and half activities (scavenger hunt, zipline, tubing, rafting, etc.).

Cons: - Remote work can at times be lonely if you don't take full advantage of video calls, coworking spaces, etc. (though there are policies in place to help with this, it's something to note). - Chat can be distracting if you let it be; you definitely want to have self-control to avoid spending too much time on its distractions. - Depending on what time zone you live in and what hours of the day you work, it can be difficult to quickly get answers to questions, feedback on product/technical decisions, etc. Most Europeans and Americans will have plenty of people available. - We rely heavily on written documentation to allow for asynchronous work, but things can sometimes get lost or become outdated due to the sheer amount of documentation we have.

Pros: - 100% remote - A lot of freedom and trust is granted in how you spend your work hours. - Great benefits. - A very diverse team of people all over the globe. - Their entire employee handbook is open source and published online; give it a look!

Cons: - Average to below-average salary. - A lot of responsibility to manage time effectively. - A high bar for hiring due to a recent spike in publicity and popularity.

Pros: - Fully remote (the obvious first pro) - The company supports you working in the way you do best. - Your performance is measured in results, not hours at your computer. - Nearly everything about the company is open source, or written and documented, or recorded and on YouTube, or broadcasted on a live stream. It is truly an open company. - Your colleagues are *people*, not resources, and the handbook emphasizes that. - Speaking of the handbook, it is great and publicly available online. - The first week of onboarding tasks are really well thought out and help new employees acclimate to the GitLab ways of working. - I've personally noticed very little to no interruptions during the day, and every day has felt very balanced with productivity, company calls, and coffee chats/social calls.

Cons: You might opt in to join a company call outside of your typical domain and be exposed to terminology/acronyms you're unfamiliar with. It's not much of a con as it is a learning opportunity! But it might be difficult at first to understand what is going on if you don't ask what something means or do a bit of research.