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Pros
I appreciate the substantial rigor experienced through the hiring process because I am surrounded by capable, achieving teammates. One year ago, I hit the ground running with my first project, an assigned mentor, and dozens of hours of training. One bonus is the effort the PMO has put into developing a playbook, a template library, additional documentation, training, and guidance. The Databricks team has supported me!
Cons
I have not identified any cons to working at Databricks.
Pros
- Great people, their recruitting process could improve, but the people they hire are truly the greatest. Not only will you find smart, hard-working people; some will actually care 1-bit about you. - Financial transparency (monthly, quarterly and yearly reports on how the company is doing, what the plan is going forward, where they invest, etc) - Process efficiency, is one of the main components of the horrible WLB, but I can't argue against the effect. Things get done, quickly, and without much talking or organizing or planning (low bureaucracy). It could be better, with proper timelines, and increased headcount.
Cons
- Work Life Balance (they are run by ex-McKinsey folks mostly, who don't value WLB, and frankly won't do anything to fix it because of their own greedyness and petiness) - People Operations (they should stop lying about their policies and just accept they are becoming just another big tech company plagued with lack of structure, siloing, and hipocritical approaches to workforce management) - Workpace, they claim to be a startup culture, yet everyone is working their assess off (even some people are asked while away on paternity) for projects with little to no value added just cause leadership wants to see everyone getting burned out
Pros
- Good work life balance as long as you speak up about your needs. - Great executive leadership and decision making. - Work with cutting edge technology (AI/ML/DE) - Breadth of experience across many different industry domains - Meaningful long lasting relationships with Bricksters and Customers. - Autonomy to get your work done, and great culture. - Competitive compensation.
Cons
- Hiring process can sometimes be convoluted since different managers for the same role (e.g. RSA) have different expectations for what they are looking for. I think it would make more sense to standardize on roles and hiring criteria between Teams. -
Pros
Good product and company is at the forefront of data + AI innovation. Skilled and talented people.
Cons
Challenging place to find success as a TA team member because bias is inherently built into the hiring system.
Pros
strong engineering culture, smart coworkers
Cons
interview process, partnership with the business
Pros
The following are the best things about working at Databricks in my opinion... 1. Great brand recognition in the business and technology communities. 2. Data platform is fantastic and getting better ever day. 3. Cult following among customer especially data engineering and data science teams.
Cons
Databricks has hired about 6,000 employees since I started several years ago. I don't believe my experience at the company is common for field engineers. I cannot leave Databricks fast enough. The only thing keeping me at the company was my RSUs, but the potential windfall from RSUs isn't worth the stress and misery at work. Let me give you a snapshot of the last six months: 1. Peer was told he was being put on a performance plan, and he needed to find a new role. He wasn't given any paperwork. He reached out to HR only to learn he wasn't on a plan at all. His manager fabricated the whole thing. Manager was not terminated. Team member was moved to new group. 2. A female team member calls me one day to say HR is investigating her boss because of a sexual harassment claim stemming from a dinner we attended. She told me I would be contacted by HR to share my version of what happened, and not to disclose she reached out to me. HR never reached out. 3. My manager joined my first customer meeting, which was at a well recognized company. We were meeting with their VP of Data and Strategy who happened to be a woman. My male manager explained the value of the platform to her with the analogy of "baking a cake for your husband". I was asked he not be a part of future meetings. 4. Forget taking vacations or sick time. One of my account executives went to my manager while I was on vacation to cover a call. My manager responded, "I'm good at assigning accounts and filing [overlay requests]". 5. My manager NEVER gives me performance feedback. When I ask for feedback, I'm told everything is fine. I get to my review, and I get all sorts of constructive feedback. And, you can't switch teams or roles unless you're exceeding expectations. Its this sadistic way to trap you in a position you hate. 6. I've been on the phone with colleagues either crying or irate, shaken by a call with their manager. Except for semi-annual employee surveys. I have never been asked for my point of view on the company or team. From my vantage point, you keep your mouth shut and work or they have a pipeline of applicants ready to take your place.
Pros
Really high hiring bar and quality of engineering talent. Inpsiring CEO and CTO.
Cons
Unsure when IPO will happen.
Pros
smart people and high bar for hiring
Cons
disorganized middle upper mgmt decision making
Pros
Awesome feedback Very welcoming Good pay Good recruitment communication
Cons
Many steps in the process
Pros
-They finally hired a person for Speak Up Investigations for the first time -Good benefits -Good compensation -The company is booming so it is easy to sell -Many great people
Cons
-Doing everything to pay us less. Account Executives got their quotas increased for September 2024 to pay them less. Hiring cheaper field engineering people with less experience. -The culture is not like in the US, in Europe they do not follow the company culture values -No repercussions for unethical behavior (sexual harassment, cheating, verbal agressions, psychological abuse) which breeds a culture of toxic people. I have never worked with such difficult people who need to go to therapy urgently. -A lot of fake pipeline creation from busdev before September 2024, impacting negatively those who did quality honest work -Still a lot of sexual harassment towards women -They do not want to hear your honest opinion, they will cancel you if you share it in public -Toxic work-life balance, people are often sick or don´t want to take sick leave to not ruin their "brand" -People unhappy with back to office but it makes sense since so many people have another job or side gig apart from Databricks, so they are often not available for Databricks and it makes other people have to work double to compensate for their lack of support. Leaders are not checking if their teammates are actually working. Many people don't even work on Fridays. -Not enough background checks, very toxic hires because of this. People fired from certain companies end up here. -They force you to be ultra competitive through manipulation, junior people work more than 10 hours a day every day to get a promotion. This causes a lot of unhappiness and unethical behavior.