Vantaggi
Grammarly has a lot of things going for it. I spent a lot of time in both offices and had some good experiences and got perspective. Team: A lot of dedicated individuals who want to build a good product and are friendly and willing to help, welcoming atmosphere, positive attitudes even when people are frustrated Product: Interesting product to use and build with big user base, clear sense that users actually benefit from the service Company: Bootstrapped, financially healthy, and growing Career: Opportunity to grow and learn a lot if you are aggressive and in the right position, opportunity to make a good position for yourself if you are skilled and motivated Perks: Reasonable number of perks that includes free food, training, paid conference attendance
Svantaggi
Management: The tech world is a minefield of bad management, and Grammarly is no exception. Top management is obtuse and sometimes insensitive, particularly regarding women. Feedback to management is encouraged in words but not in action. My feeling is that they do not listen/respond to people except close, trusted advisers or highly-valued employees (developers). Feedback from management is often not meaningful (we like what you do, but you could maybe not take so many days off). Although it is not discussed very openly, there is a clear sense that top management plays favorites. Offices: The norm of 10 or 12 hours in SF is beginning to relax, but many people still believe that staying long hours in the office is the only way to be appreciated. This is bad for morale and the company. People who work effectively in limited hours should be rewarded, and people who stay in the office forever should not be held up as an example. The CEO spends all of his time at work, which makes people uncomfortable. Employees/team leads are not empowered to make decisions about managing their own time. Both offices are overcrowded, but WFH is strongly discouraged. The search for a new office in Ukraine has been going on for at least one year. This is bad for productivity. Finally, we have a big time difference between offices that makes it difficult to coordinate. It used to be common for people to visit between offices, but this does not happen anymore. Career: Many salaries, especially in the SF office, are well below market. The company has become reliant on importing developers from Ukraine via H1B to make up for lack of hiring in SF. We hired two engineers in SF for the past four years. We behave like we are special enough to attract people at lower pay, but that is obviously not the case. I guess we will not be able to scale efficiently if we do not fix this problem. Some people develop a lot and some do not. I guess that if top management likes you (and especially if you are a developer) the opportunities are much better. There is not a clear way to become better, so you just have to find your own way. It can be good for some people, but I don’t think it can work if the company really grows.