Pros
I’ve gotten to learn four new technologies in the last year. I can focus on doing what’s right for our clients in the day to day. My team and I manage ourselves once we're on a project, and our supervisors are there to help us when we want some business-related support. I get useful and actionable feedback from coworkers and supervisors. I get to learn about how the business works from open books management. I trust my supervisors to share about issues that will affect us. Our benefits include attending conferences and counseling. I've seen managers really support people putting family first during tough times. Pay is based on industry data so it’s less dependent on individual negotiation style and skills. My teammates’ focus, kindness, and high standard for respect mean that I can focus on my work. I laugh and learn every day at work. This kind of environment can be a bit harder to find as a queer woman (noting I’m also white, cis, non-disabled). Diversity and inclusion efforts are an ongoing work in progress at AO. Like all places with high aspirations, the talk is ahead of the walk. But AO’s concrete efforts to make the company and the tech community better places for more kinds of people and its commitment to working on hard things, thinking long term, learning, and prioritizing relationships will help the team get to where it wants to be eventually. It’s a great place for me to learn technically and find my footing in the professional world.
Cons
The things we complain about are telling about how healthy this organization is - we complain about how our snack ordering system is inefficient, our managers don’t do everything right all the time, sometimes there’s miscommunication, and usually reality doesn’t measure up to the ideal. The company is figuring out how to evolve from a small one into a larger one, so there are growing pains with that.