Pros
- There is a small handful of great people who work here. - Decent snacks/drinks in the kitchen area. - Choice of offices in SF or Palo Alto. - Standing desks are nice.
Cons
First off, I just wanted to say that I find it ridiculous that all the fake / planted reviews that have gone up specifically mention how great the pay is, and how it’s not only market rate but *above* market rate. If the pay is so great, then why isn’t anyone posting it in the salary section of Glassdoor? Here’s why: a) Unlike with all the planted positive reviews, if Guidebook plants fake inflated salaries, that will outrage the people who currently work there because they will wonder why they’re getting paid so much less. b) If they post the actual salaries, that will just confirm that the salaries are way below market rate, which will scare away any potential applicants and discount those fake reviews that go out of their way to talk about the awesome salaries at Guidebook. It’s really a lose-lose situation, which is why they just keep adding fake positive reviews that talk about how great the pay is (without backing it up with any legitimate statistics). I also find it interesting that many of the planted reviews talk about how *everyone* is *so* happy here. I will be perfectly honest, as I have nothing to gain by being disingenuous. Are there folks who love working at Guidebook? Yes, absolutely. Are there folks who are more or less indifferent? Yes, again. Are there folks who loathe working there and are counting the days until they get another offer? Definitely, yes. Conclusion? Either the folks who put up these glowing reviews are being downright dishonest, or are actually that disconnected from reality. I’m not sure which is more disturbing. Things are meant to be open and flexible here, but when you sit down and really think about it, leaving everything open-ended is really a way for management NOT to have to commit to anything. It's a very slippery slope (and, in my experience, a highly frustrating one). E.g. What do I need to do to get promoted? To get a raise? How about if I commit to X concrete plan with Y deliverables by Z date? You get non-committal responses that management can always snake out of after you uphold your end of the deal. Highly, highly frustrating, but absolutely nothing you can do about it. There is definitely a contradiction in perception versus reality. For instance, how many hours you are physically present in the office counts for a lot more than it should (with no consideration for people's commute times, time spent working in the evenings and weekends, etc). You can sit in the office all day quietly playing video games until sundown and be perceived as a much harder worker than someone who works hard from 9-5 in the office and then goes home and does more work. That’s the sad reality. It’s not a shocker that people come in later and leave earlier when certain senior management is out of office. This really hurts work/life balance because it is a known reality that you are evaluated based on your time in the office. This is really unfortunate and flies in the face of what an open, flexible startup culture should embody.
