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Async work is incredible

Senior Backend Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at GitLab for 1 year
August 26, 2021
5.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

If you're coming from a more "traditional" workplace, working for GitLab is literally life-changing. You can work whenever you want, wherever you want.

A lot of the annoyances involved with typical workplace culture are also not present:

  • No emails - Everything happens in GitLab and Slack.
  • All meetings are optional - You can totally get away with skipping all of them if you wanted. Every meeting has an agenda document that everyone edits, and you can still participate even if you don't go.
  • No offices - Might be a con for some people, but I'm easily distracted and don't care for water cooler talk, so this is a big plus for me. There's a lot of encouragement to have "coffee chats" (social calls) with coworkers so that you still have that social aspect.
  • Stuff actually gets written down - Big peeve for me at previous workplaces where people would decide everything in meetings and never write anything, thus leading to a culture of tribal knowledge. At GitLab, you take a week off and don't have to wonder what happened while you were gone.
Cons

Async does mean that communication has a longer turnaround time. Patience and good writing skills are required.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
5.0
Culture and Values
5.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
5.0
Career Opportunities
5.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
5.0

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