Pros
I liked the interview process. They don’t really care that you can solve Leetcode hard or medium questions in 45 minutes. They’ll never ask those. Instead, they’ll ask you questions relevant to the day-to-day life of a professional developer. I was asked questions on sorting, various data structures, etc. There was also a demo session of their main product as part of the interview. I really liked how this felt like a discussion. Overall, what they’re looking for is someone who’s generally well-rounded, a quick-learner, and can demonstrate independence. This is how software interviews should be. But obviously there is a cost to this, which is that your interviewers need to be smart and engaged and be able to provide a diagnostic feedback of you. Bigger companies can’t afford to do that. I’ve had instances where my interactions with the interviewer were limited to the initial handshake and the final thank you.
Cons
Once you get hired, there’s no hand-holding so you’re kind of free to do whatever you like because you’re an adult. If you want to go play ping-pong all day long, by all means, do it. But you don’t really have time to do that because there’s simply too much work. And then there’s a culture of peer pressure and what have you that keeps you in line at a company without a management structure. I suspect that’s because the founders have done their research and learned that the most productive work environment is one that is self-policing. Nevertheless, you will quickly learn that the company is severely understaffed. As much as I like to laud their interview process, they do themselves a huge disservice with the recruiting process. For example, you cannot apply to Ab Initio directly. The company website is a single page of snippets of case studies of the work the company has done (not to mention that it’s painful to navigate). It has no means of contact. Instead, when you Google Ab Initio, you get search results for ab initio methods in computational chemistry. If you want to find the company, you have to search for Ab Initio Software Lexington. There is no easy way to find information on the company. I don’t think there’s even an official LinkedIn page. So the way recruiting works is they search for people based on academic pedigree (primarily) and if they like you, they will reach out to you. I was fortunate enough to run into them at my school’s career fair, which they seem to frequent. For a company that has existed for a quarter of a century and has continued to grow even during economic downturns, they’ve done a monumental job of keeping themselves relatively unknown and cultivating an atmosphere of a cabal. As an employee, this has a direct impact on your psychology and on your day-to-day life. For example, I simply don’t know what trivial things might get me fired. There are some cute chairs and trash cans throughout the office that I would like to take a picture of so that I can show some friends and family members. This is a natural instinct for most people. But I am reasonably certain that the design of the chairs and the trash cans is considered an intellectual property and taking a picture of them would be a no-no. Okay, fine. I’ll never take my phone out of my pocket unless it’s to talk on it or text someone. But you see the problem? There is a general air of mystery and confusion that is pervasive. You never know who’s in charge, except for your coach, and so you make an effort to err on the side of caution, which if you’re a developer, means focusing on the code that you write and not worrying about anything else. Another illustration of the oddity of this company: white carpeting and white walls throughout the cafeteria and other areas. I mean w*f?! People spill food and drinks all the time so in my view this accomplishes two things: 1) it forces people to forego their natural behavior and be super careful with every bite and sip they take, 2) manufactures a problem for the cleaning staff. I have a serious problem with both of these. 1) It is a means of control that goes far beyond your conduct at work and sends a powerful message. It infringes upon certain liberties you take when you walk outside or decide to wear certain shoes. When you know you’re going to be walking around on a white carpet floor, you’re not going to cut a cross a dirt path on your way to work or wear something that’s going to smear on it. So you regulate your conduct to conform to the expected behavior. Further, it sends the message that you should tread carefully, both literally and figuratively. And this message is well-received. Nobody dares rock the boat by levying some well-deserved criticism or questioning certain decisions. These are not the habits of a liberal society. The other issue is that it creates unnecessary work for the custodial staff, which translates to spending money on something that could have been avoided. This attitude is actually quite pervasive. Remember what I said about developers being able to do whatever TH they want? Well, product teams always develop their own solutions to problems specific to the nuances and idiosyncrasies of their product. This means other teams can’t really use that solution so they have to invent their own, unnecessarily spending months and years of work that could have been avoided. The notion of invention, rather than co-opting an existing solution, is painfully true to the name of the company. People may describe Ab Initio as being quirky and a challenging place to work. But there is nothing quirky about it. There’s no glory or glamour in a carefully studied and clinically implemented effort at cultivating a certain type of workforce. Nevertheless, some people love working here. Maybe you will, too.