Pros
I previously worked in both academics and another tech start-up. As far as I'm concerned, Vicarious almost offers the best of both worlds. Compared to some/most private companies: -Great freedom of research. -Fascinating long term goals -Small hierarchy weight (easy to challenge higher ups' decisions, even as a newcomer). -Healthy rhythm of work, you do not spend your time in crunch mode Compared to academics: - Less bureaucracy - More resources so higher wage than in academics, and less problem to get whatever you need to work efficiently. - You are judged by quality of scientific contribution, not number of papers/citations produced, which means. If some ideas led to results not as good as expected, there is no need to push for a publication on those, which means more time to focus on your other scientific ideas. This also encourages high-risk high-reward research path, contrary to academics where I had the feeling that "one mediocre paper in the next 3 months, is worth a possible ground-breaking paper in the next 2 years".
Cons
Little far from the cool places to live in. It also means the rent is cheap near the company office, but I'd rather live in SF itself.
