Pros
Good money, salaries are high if you have 'the mindset' They hire 'for mindset' so if you can give the right impression at the interview it's relatively easy to get an offer as the technical side of things isn't very thorough. However, the mindset they really want is someone who will be totally submissive and not push back to management while being moderately technically competent The team in Zurich are great, it's this that gets you through the day. There are lots of talented people, many of who want to get away but are tied in by a relocation package, or are prepared to deal with the politics in return for a big fat pay check Seemingly limitless supply of cash available from Solera (owners) so there are free snacks and a beer fridge amongst other perks It's easy to get yourself fired (no HR processes involved, just a quick decision and you're out the door) so when you find another role you can do this and get paid your notice period without having to go to work
Cons
The office. It's a concrete box with no privacy so everyone can hear everyone's phone calls. A fortune was spent fitting it out to look cool rather than be functional so you get to sit on chairs meant for a 15 year old's bedroom computer desk, using a table which can't be adjusted and you have to use a mouse mat because the desk tops are un-finished wood. This is indicative of the total lack of thought which has gone into making it a functional workspace in spite of the millions of CHF spent on the fit out, but it looks cool on the corporate Instagram feed... p.s. don't complain about the stairs if you value your job The politics are mind-blowing and get in the way of getting stuff done, senior managers are all trying to undermine and destroy each other to take control of the whole empire The three sites don't work well together - Dallas does all the cool stuff, LDN and ZRH generally hack stuff together to try and make it work based on the crazy prototypes from the US. Job descriptions also talk about wearables and IOT - this stuff only happens in the USA, there's very little innovative stuff going on in the European offices, most of it is working with existing services and the ancient Audatex platform then putting a front end on it There are a lot of throwaway 'prototypes' built (hacked) for demos, which often never even get shown to the customer but management think nothing of getting people to work evenings and weekends just in case it might be needed IT ISN'T A STARTUP. A startup spends all the cash available to build out a product, get it to market and drive adoption, everything else is secondary. R3PI spends all its cash on office fit outs and trying to look cool, if a piece of furniture doesn't look right or some wood is the wrong shade it gets changed irrespective of cost, meanwhile everyone is busy hard coding stuff into the UI because there's no time/budget to build stuff properly. Tiny product design changes which require a lot of work are prioritized over middleware and back end stuff which will be required to get the product to customers Sackings are used as a 'motivational tool', if the management start to think you're 'a troublemaker' then you get fired, irrespective of competence or how important someone is to the team. Being 'a troublemaker' can be as simple as chatting to colleagues about the negative aspects of the office or company so it's important not to talk to the wrong people Relocation packages tie you in for 12 or 18 months unless you pay the money back, but people have been fired and left high and dry by R3PI during this time - you can't leave but they can fire you and leave you to sort yourself out and get home again Work life balance doesn't exist. This will no doubt be countered with something about agile mentality, being a startup and having the right 'mindset' as this is the go-to response for everything but rest assured your 40 hour contract and any legal protection will be effectively surrendered when you join and if you complain you will be fired