Pros
There aren’t many (any?) companies that offer a value proposition that’s even close to what you get at Spire. 1. It’s a Space Program. I work on hardware/software that runs in space. 2. The engineering team is broad and deep. Distributed systems software, embedded, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, RF, digital signal processing, high performance computing, and more. 3. Expectations on what people will deliver are high. This is good and necessary for the stuff we’re building. 4. The technical problem space is unique and doesn’t just call for copying+pasting technical solutions from other companies. 5. The company is still small and everybody on the team is having a big impact on the outcome and technological platform. 6. There’s a strong social component. I get to work on dramatically improving the world’s ability to understand weather, shipping, aircraft patterns, and more. 7. Salaries are competitive. 8. It’s still relatively early, and there’s a big equity upside. 9. Our SF office is nice and quiet and well suited for doing great work. 10. Repeating #1: it's a SPACE PROGRAM.
Cons
Engineering team is distributed across several offices. It's always easier when everyone's in the same building. Each office has its own focus area, and it works quite well so it's really a nitpick. This is not a con for me personally but might be for some people: it is a small and nimble company not a 10000 person organization with lots of processes and support machinery.
