Forward thinking startup with room for personal and professional growth - Software Engineer balena Employee Review

5.0
Aug 13, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Difficult and rewarding challenges - The team has a wide range of expertise and the are plenty of people to learn from - Remote first approach places a lot of trust in individual employees - Opportunity to move across different projects and areas - There are regular open discussions about the direction of the engineering architecture and product in general - Culture of radical candor aids clear communication and cuts through "office politics" - Flexible working hours - Family friendly work culture - Engineering team are willing to invest time in architecting correct solutions instead of sprinting for the first viable implementation

Cons

- Remote working has its downsides, you can go a very long time without seeing your teammates face to face - Technical discussion can be very challenging and requires you to put your ego aside, which is a difficult process - With the team spread across the world it can be hard to switch off - Remote first processes mean that you must be diligent in your communication, so that your messages are easy to understand - Its not always clear what is expected of you as an employee and can lead to you thinking that you are underworking or overworking - Due to working remotely, It can be easy to become siloed on a project if you are not taking personal responsibility and asking for help

Explore other reviews about balena

5.0
Jan 14, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very supportive team and culture.

Cons

Time zones can get a bit tricky.

5.0
May 18, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Work on what you love with room to explore your (relevant) interests (albeit within the company's best interests) - Culture is highly understanding, cooperative, and supportive - Employees respect each other - Management respects employees and recognizes their efforts - Employees' personal time is respected - Freedom to choose your own schedule - Management is open/non-secretive

Cons

- The remote environment makes it possible to get siloed, but the siloing could be avoided with a little effort to communicate with others and join meetings/open offices - It may take a bit to complete a feature/improvement (pending reviews, etc.) because everyone else also has their hands full with other features/improvements. Plus potential re-iterations provoked by reviews and other changes of product (a consequence of the long lifecycle of a PR). However, this is something that is actively being improved, with the company mindset recently having moved towards trying to get polished features out sooner in order to get feedback and iterate on them. - Have to do support shifts which (although beneficial for learning about the product) can be a bit tedious/boring at times

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