Pros
This is the first tech company I've worked for that pays more than lip service to the concept of work-life balance. At most places, it means that your life and work become one (in favor of work). At Reaktor, 40 hour work weeks are enforced since they're equally beneficial to its employees and clients. In addition, the company pays for daily subway transportation, takes everyone on bi-annual company trips (one international), provides an epic amount of leave for new parents, provides dinner every Thursday, and just generally gives a damn about all aspects of its employee's lives and well-being. Work at Reaktor is challenging because you will most certainly need to step outside of your defined role to be successful. Teams are colocated with clients and are responsible for day-to-day communication and client relations. This responsibility brings with it a level of autonomy and freedom that is rare. Reaktor trusts its teams to make the best decisions possible at any moment. If the team makes the wrong decision, we learn from it and move on. Work at Reaktor is exciting because the situations we are called in to tackle are usually big sticky problems with no easy answer. Like most design problems, they are hard to pin down until you start attempting to solve them We take a build-first approach and learn by making. No 6-month design exploration projects here. The things you imagine get built fast and improved even faster. This is also the first tech company I've worked at that genuinely feels like a family. I've only been here for 1.5 years, but I feel as though it's been 10. The company, and everyone in it, work hard every day to keep improving relationships and each other.
Cons
The work can be daunting if you prefer to focus on your defined role. Reaktor teams don't typically include project managers or people managing client relations. Those responsibilities are shouldered equally by the team. It can also be a tough place if you aren't accustomed to driving your own development or making decisions on your own. Reaktor employees are generally expected to steer that ship individually.