Pros
- Most teams are pretty tight-knit and friendly with each other. This makes it easier to come to work, even when things are tough (once you've finished the honeymoon phase, tough days happen often). - Depending on your team, you can get the opportunity to learn new stuff by filling gaps. - If you know where to look, there are some really smart people that you can learn a ton from. - Jay and Eric, two of the founders, are widely respected as being humble and down-to-earth. Take note of the other two founders which aren't mentioned here: they're missing because they present neither of those qualities. - There is such thing as a free lunch when the office is open. As long as you don't have dietary restrictions, in which case you're probably getting zucchini noodles and a bun.
Cons
- Compensation is low. When they respond to this review, they'll say that they do salary research multiple times a year. What they neglect to mention is that they'll miscategorize job titles to the actual duties of a role. For example, a junior product manager will get a contract that says "Product co-ordinator", which will title match to a lower salary but carry the responsibilities of a higher salary band. There are examples of this on every team: "Team Lead", "Account Manager", "Marketing Specialist". Check to see how long postings have been open; this is usually because they can't fill them since candidates withdraw once they hear the salary number. - On salaries: It's important to note that this is actually a running joke among Bold employees. "I'd love to buy a house, but I'm on a bold salary" is a common one for nearly anyone who isn't a developer. About once every three months, the Chief Human Resources Officer (a hilarious title for a 300 person company) gets up on stage and tells the company that they're always looking at compensation to make sure they stay competitive. This has happened at least 5 times over the past 2 years. - HR is not your friend. Talk to anyone who has been there more than a year and you'll hear horror stories of the CHRO gossiping to her underlings about employees (which almost always makes its way around the company in short order). She plays both sides of the coin to self-preserve. A few days after 15 people were let go, the CHRO accidentally messaged the entire company joking that they were going to fire others who hadn't joined a culture Slack channel. - The CEO is probably a smart guy, but he does a real good job of hiding it. There is no clear vision (it changes almost monthly based on what book he's reading). You need only check his Twitter account and compare it to that of a CEO from any other growing tech company to understand that he's in way over his head.