Uber

Before interviewing and joining, I had the impression from media coverage that Uber was kind of an amoral company full of brogrammers. I couldn't have been more wrong. People at Uber care a lot about their communities. Hiring is the most diverse out of any company I've ever worked at. C-level executives emphasize during the all-hands that they don't tolerate insensitive comments or behavior.

Pros:

• Lots of smart people; this can be intimidating but it means there's lots of opportunity to learn.
• Great work, high impact. Even interns get important projects.
• Professional demeanor. I don't see anyone playing political or social games. "No jerks" rule is emphasized from C-level down.
• Meritocracy is practiced here. Everyone is expected to be responsible and thorough at their tasks. The top coding bootcamp graduates are among the new hires. Degrees aren't mandatory. I see more women engineers here than I saw in college.
• Most folks don't work crazy hours, including mid-level managers. Work-life balance is real here, unless you're unlucky (see cons).
• Good locations; HQ buildings are near public transit.
• Sane RSU policy for a pre-IPO company. Contrary to media reports, RSUs don't evaporate when employees leave. They can keep them under Uber's control or collect them if they want to (probably a bad idea due to taxes).

The business is everything. Some employees had to work 80-hour weeks for months because their team was given a very aggressive deadline. Other teams were still working 40-hour weeks. It seems like some engineers should have been pulled from other teams to help out the ones in a crunch.

The vibe I get is that I would be in deep trouble if I said something offensive. The atmosphere isn't especially playful.

No 401k matching.

Very real risk of there never being an IPO if the China effort isn't successful. Everyone at the company is gambling that Uber will do well in its segment of the market. I believe in the company, but it's still scary. Few at Google or Facebook are worried about their company's future.

Unlimited vacation depends on the team. Unlimited is obviously a misnomer. Vacation has to be approved by the manager; only employees have to figure out how much is the right amount. With a defined policy, employees could use all their vacation with the confidence they're not taking too much. That said, people do take vacation and are fully unplugged while they're out.

It's a bit scary to know that the company's future is riding on success in China, but I agree that we need to be all-in on that bet.