Vantaggi
- The people generally legitimately care about each other and their customers. People are quick to point out when those they work with do a good job, and it can be a very supportive environment. - The company has a generous time-off policy and encourages people to take advantage of it. - There are opportunities for growth, though they seem to mostly be within the same space (going from associate level to a higher level engineer, for example). There are opportunities to move between departments, but these are rarer.
Svantaggi
- This is an extremely meeting-heavy company. 20-30 hours of my week was taken up by meetings, many of which would start late or run long. I routinely had meetings run 45 minutes over, and one meeting went 3.5 hours over. These meetings are the primary way important information is conveyed, as very little is documented. If meetings are not your thing, I do not recommend this company. - Rather than work-life balance, Freestar prefers the phrase "work-life integration." In practice, this means that there is an expectation that one needs to be instantly available to solve issues or answer questions, and failing to do so means you're not a team player. This also means asynchronous communication is difficult, causing issues as this remote company covers multiple timezones. - There is a lack of diversity. Leadership is overwhelmingly white and male. Leadership also approaches its role in the adtech industry with blinders to avoid recognising the impact it has. As an example, some of the sites Freestar monetises have anti-trans, homophobic, and anti-woman messaging that reaches millions. Freestar is dismissive of employees calling out these issues and of the harm they're doing by continuing to monetise these sorts of sites. - Management is not proactive about acting on issues that are brought to them.