Pros
The People Team at DataStax are so utterly fantastic. I wasn't looking to leave my position at a FAANG / MANGA but I took the interview anyway as I always do to get a compensation check. After a few conversations with the team and the person who would be my "coach" which is the DataStax internal term for "manager" I was pretty hooked. Everyone was authentic and honest about their challenges at the company and what they really loved. The same theme kept re-appearing, which was that everyone really enjoyed working with the people that DataStax hired. This was enough to draw me away from my former employer (who is a partner of DataStax) as they, by contrast, hire for competence only without doing a deep dive on the personality traits of their candidates. The People Team here at DataStax have it down to a science, and as a result- I really do like everyone that I work with directly and indirectly, which makes it easy to stay on-mission.
Cons
I did have to take a pay cut to come to DataStax, and there was a last minute change to my hiring paperwork (again, a downward comp related adjustment) which was frustrating. That said, I am happy here and I believe that the stock appreciation will make me whole in the future.