Pros
Work alongside some very creative and interesting people who live very rich lives. It's a great place for the young and single. Engineering culture is very strong, almost to the point of letting a technological style dictate a product experience.
Cons
"Keep it real" is the company's motto, but there is constant smokescreen and double-talk on everything. Despite the fact that "Loose Lips Sink Ships" as they say at every all hands meeting, gossip and rumor is usually how you receive most of your information. This isn't due to the clique-like culture, which is pervasive (Regina George in the C-Suite is forming her own team of Mean Girls to worship her since she left the financial world), but more because the top management isn't aligned at all on what needs to get done, most of all the CEO, who is more of a cultural tour guide than a leader. The product experience has languished from years with no leader, and there is so much experience debt to dig out of that growth is constrained. Speaking of growth, don't consider being promoted. They're so worried about upsetting anyone, they rarely promote from within the ranks with the exception of the few anointed who don't threaten the egos of the top dogs. They are more likely to hire from outside than to nurture their own talent, because management experience is poor throughout. Lastly, Etsy just simply wastes a lot of money and is badly run. Many departments are bloated, the office is rarely humming before 10:30, and you might see people around the office just doing whatever they want under no apparent direction. Most people can't measure their impact or explain why they are doing something.
