Pros
The work itself was interesting, meaningful, and impactful. Great chance to be part of Rivian’s autonomy and AI development efforts. Our team was able to provide feedback and ideas that helped improve the annotation process — and many of those suggestions were implemented. Most of the people I worked with were passionate, supportive, and genuinely invested in the mission. The tools and systems we used (Segments AI, Slack, Zoom) made the job easy to collaborate on remotely.
Cons
We were told the project was temporary with the possibility of extension, but that turned out to mean temporary, period. After helping build and refine the annotation system, our group was told the roles were ending because Rivian needed us back at the main plant for the R2 ramp-up. However, none of us are actually returning to R2 work — we’re just being placed back into our old jobs, with only the option to apply and interview for R2 later. Shortly after that decision, around 20 contractors were hired in Palo Alto, CA to take over the same work we had been doing. Considering the higher costs of that region, it’s hard to see how that was a cost-saving decision. The lack of transparency and communication made it feel like internal employees were used to help launch a new program and then replaced once it was running smoothly.