Pros
******Impact: People can't believe it when I tell them that the Android and iOS mobile teams are only 4 engineers each. The team size is really the sweet spot as they are big enough that we get to learn from each other's coding style and expertise, but small enough that we each get to own the development of entire product features. Team members no matter their tenure are encouraged to open source utilities they build for the app and we are also encouraged to write blog posts and speak at events such as the iOSoho and Brooklyn Kotlin monthly meetups. Over the years, I've worked on so many different types of projects that I feel lucky to have learned everything from custom animations, physics engines, persistence, push notification handling, app store payment flows, unit testing, continuous integration/deployment, and really above all, learning how to write really good, clean, abstract code. ******Growth: One of OkCupid's greatest strengths is that the employees love to communicate and share what they're working on with each other. I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur and OkCupid has been the perfect place to sharpen just about every skill I would need to start my own company. The marketing team has taught me so much about brand positioning, advertising and engagement. The product team has exceptional rigor with how they validate what to work on next and how to measure success. The data science and analytics team have taught me best practices for experiment setup, hypothesis testing, and proper deployment of experiments across mobile and desktop platforms. The list goes on and on and it's really a credit to OkCupid's open and collaborative work environment. Beyond just skill growth, OkCupid also has very detailed engineering ladders that provide a clear path forward to achieve title and pay promotions. ******Culture: Employees are super friendly, passionate and beyond smart. We have really fun conversations at the lunch table, play video games or board games on Thursdays during our 1-2pm game hour (and let's be honest, most evenings too) and every quarter we go out for a team bonding day. In the past we have gone to Blue Hill farms for a three course meal and tour of the farm, went around New York City on a lobster cruise, spent a weekend at an overnight camp upstate and cooked a meal as part of a cooking class. ******Benefits: We get free catered lunch from a wide variety of NYC restaurants. Our fridge is stocked with everything from Siggi's yogurt, carrots/hummus, string cheese, endless LaCroix, Iced Teas, Harmless Harvest coconut water, La Colombe Coffee etc etc etc. We get $150 a quarter just to go on dates (even if you're in a relationship!) For iOS, OkCupid pays for Apple’s WWDC, for Android it's Google I/O. We even have made some recent improvements to maternity/paternity leave and contributions towards fertility preservation.
Cons
Right now our team size is great for getting everything we need done without working overtime, but I wish management would expand engineering team head counts so we can invest even more time on personal interests beyond company directives.