Software Engineer • Current Employee
Pros: Great career opportunity. It's the leader in its space and it's quite a unique niche for a startup to be in; not many companies are trying to solve the automated investing problem. You get to invest up to 250K for free for employees!
Technology problems that you deal with are also pretty decent, although management can do better in ensuring all employees are equally effective and challenged, but it's getting there.
Culture is very, very collaborative. You can walk up and talk to anyone, even the CEO or chairman. The CEO is very nice and has a great personality (my favorite person in the entire management team). All the engineers are also good people to work with, very helpful in terms of getting new members up to speed.
Benefits are getting better. The snacks are getting better. There will also be free food coming soon. We get cards for Starbucks, Pete's, David's Tea, Fraiche, Yogurtland, Cafe Venetia, and some ice cream place, and it's all corp expensed. Awesome location, so close to all the great places to eat in Palo Alto.
Don't ever feel bored or caged in at work; you can go out for a walk every couple of hours.
Cons: Wealthfront is growing very, very fast. Even the processes that are put into place are so that it can eventually scale up to a large number of people.
Because of this, it's becoming less and less "startupy." It still has agile development practices, but the rapid growth and the need for clear processes can get a little challenging.
Compensation isn't the greatest. They do try to underball you and then don't really negotiate. However, if you are in it for the long run and really believe in the company, then the stocks should make up for it.
If you do want to excel, you will have to give it 110%. So, if you are looking for a chill career, don't consider Wealthfront.