Pros
My experience at Vida has been positive. I've been supported and given opportunities to take on interesting projects. I've experienced growth, and my career trajectory is better because I've been at Vida. While I can't speak for other departments, the one I'm in operates in a relatively healthy way. The leader cares about their people, works to make opportunities available, and communicates transparently. As far as a startup goes, it's actually pretty relaxed. Work-life balance in our dept. is very good, and it's rare we have to work insane hours with lots of fire drills. I can take vacation. My hours can be flexible if needed in order to take care of the other responsibilities in my personal life. I miss working in an office sometimes, but the fully remote option works really well at Vida. It doesn't keep us from accomplishing our goals. I believe that what we're doing does indeed help people. It's exciting to take on new projects when market trends shift (I should note that may be a con for some people — our business definitely isn't static, and if it were, I wouldn't stick around because I'd get bored). And yes, we do hit our goals. It's exciting to see your work come to fruition and make a difference. It may sound silly, but there are companies where you question if what you do every day even matters. I know that what I do here impacts our company-wide goals, which is very rewarding. The people in the department where I work at Vida are phenomenal. We care about each other, professionally and personally. We look out for one another and actively find opportunities to boost others. The culture is good. Yes, there are frustrating things because it's a JOB and nobody gets along all the time. But for the most part, people treat each other well.
Cons
Vida isn't immune to the macroeconomic climate. It recently experienced a RIF (which largely accounts for the spike in frustrated reviews you see here now), which means there's a little extra stress and frustration bubbling to the surface. Startups aren't for everyone. Funding looks different when you involve private equity or venture capital. Changing course is inevitable in startup. If you need your company to be ever consistent, you won't be happy at Vida. I do believe Vida has changed for the better over the years, and is on a really strong trajectory right now, but there have certainly been employees here who don't care for the changes. Some of the extra perks and benefits were removed as a result of the economic climate. Personally, I'd rather know some headcount was saved by losing a DoorDash monthly stipend, but I do get that some companies can provide more of those types of benefits right now. There are other cons that I'd argue exist at nearly every single company out there (namely because I've yet to work somewhere they don't exist). Things like politics or frustrations working with other departments. Some places are toxic; I don't think Vida is at all. I've seen extremely toxic people encouraged to leave Vida through the years and the environment always course corrects after those people leave. But no, it's not a perfect place because, again, it's a JOB.