Meta

During the 5+ years I've worked here as an engineer, I've had really incredible and satisfying experiences. I've learned so much more than I did at my past company in a similar amount of time, have almost never been disappointed with the caliber of a co-worker (and I've worked somewhat closely with around 50 other engineers), and have gotten to contribute to the product in ways I wouldn't have believed possible.

As an engineer, I felt like I had a lot of control and influence over my work and the products I worked on. I got to create some of the most impactful and satisfying products and features of my career, past and probably future. If you're really great at what you do or have really great product ideas, very little will interfere with you showing that quickly. New engineers are highly valued in the culture.

Salary/bonus compensation has been really strong, in addition to the stock compensation.

I've felt like I've been able to maintain a pretty good work-life balance, especially after the first year. However, I feel like I had to work hard to make that happen.

Being around many people who feel compelled to put most of their waking weekday hours into coding can be intimidating, even when you feel confident in the job you're doing and even when pressure to put in a ton of hours is rarely explicit. Engineers can definitely work reasonable hours, especially older ones with families, but you have to bring your own self-confidence to trust that you're kicking butt even if you're not putting in a ton of hours. This is especially true during the summers when interns ratchet up the intensity around the office.

Things are done very fast, which also means things can be hectic and sometimes chaotic. Though this feels less and less true as the years go by, I'd expect some culture shock for anyone coming from software companies where stability and consensus are top priorities.

Code quality has felt really good for the past 2 or so years, though this definitely didn't feel true when I started.