Pros: CEO seems very legit about the values of the company. There have been many times we've made decisions that prove we are not completely about the bottom line. Engineers have a lot of autonomy and trust, and are encouraged to go wherever the problem leads, which is great. Mobility within the company is highly encouraged too. Engineers can go to a different team that interests them. Lots of interesting problem-solving is happening. Solid values that you can be proud of, unlike many other tech companies. Sleep well at night knowing that you aren't contributing to the slow downfall of civilization.

Cons: Team-to-team communication is weak. Every team is very autonomous, but often at the cost of not being fully aligned with other teams. Redundant work often happens as a result. Nothing is done about engineers that aren't pulling their weight, which can be demoralizing for other engineers.

Pros: The SF, Bellevue, and Tokyo offices are quite nice if in-person collaboration is ideal for you. The individual office cultures tend to be fairly good. They (mostly) put their money where their mouth is as far as D&I is concerned. Despite their best efforts, Pokémon Go is still a fun game with a great community. The majority of the people who work at the company are passionate and want to do the right thing, and a lot of them are great fun to work with.

Cons: It is very easy to fall between the cracks and just sort of shuffle around and exist if you're not an outspoken and passionate person, which can be a double-edged sword. (Obviously not a con for everyone, but it should be mentioned.) This also leads to what feels like a lot of filler and middle-management positions, with a few talented engineers, designers, artists, etc., carrying the load for many. Forced RTO policies post-pandemic, pointing at it as one of the reasons why products were underperforming, while not acknowledging the actual reasons they were (poor design decisions, executive whims overwriting feedback from players/internal feedback). Reliance on a bloated technology stack that has accrued a completely untenable amount of tech debt. Everyone who made it no longer works at the company, and it is such a broad platform that there likely isn't a single person who understands how it all works start to finish. A high degree of internal executive politics: you are either forced to be at the whims of, or you are going to get in some drag-out fights to enact the changes you believe to be positive. This leads to a pervasive attitude of frustration among a lot of the staff. Communication outside of official company channels between coworkers reflects this negativity and frustration. A lot of coworkers got mysterious pay bumps as soon as the California law passed requiring them to display salary ranges. Upon investigation, a lot of these pay bumps were to the bottom of the newly listed pay bracket, furthering mistrust that many junior staff were being underpaid. Video game development is a passion industry, but that doesn't mean that workers should be unfairly compensated for their labor. Hopefully, the forced visibility change will lead to a more positive outcome on this front.

Pros: I've been in various startups so far, and Niantic is unique in that: 1. There's more demand than what we can supply. Most other startups die because there is no demand (i.e., the problem was non-existential). AR gaming is a true market, as proven by Ingress & Pokémon Go, and Niantic is almost the only company supplying the market. 2. Most employees (engineers and non-engineers) are seniors and high achievers in their field. I've been in startups where smart, young engineers build overly ambitious products that slip and fail. I've been in a big company where experienced engineers build dying products over time. Here, people know how to ship an ambitious product in time. One reason is, unlike other startups, Niantic was a Google project, so it had senior & ambitious people from the beginning. 3. The company is mission-driven, and the CEO is a product person who dreamed the mission from the beginning (Adventure on Foot). A lot of startups pursue what the market creates as opportunities and die because the market was an illusion or could not survive the competition. 4. Our games make a lot of money, yet we have no competition on the horizon. 5. Given the engineering complexity of the problem, it would be very difficult for followers to compete against us (probably Google's Maps team can do, but Google is the investor, and Niantic is from that team). 6. Benefits are great for a startup.

Cons: 1. Work-life balance is minimal, but time and location are very flexible. 2. High-pressure environment where all of your peers are high achievers.