Pros
- Nice working environment - No hard deadlines - The boss decides, but there's room for discussion and personal opinions. No irrational decisions imposed from above: you can solve problems in the way you see most fit, as long as you can convince the boss with your arguments. - Focus is on the product: design and development. Very little bureaucracy, and you don't have to deal with bipolar customers. - Flexible work hours (in the sense that they adapt to the worker, not to the company) - Flexible holiday policy (I've never seen a holiday request being denied) - Very good pay - Family friendly environment (people sometimes bring their dogs, or their children) - Good programming practices, no monster legacy code that nobody can touch. - Almost flat hierarchy - No dress code - I wouldn't be too scared if this review wasn't anonymous (in fact, the company is so small they can probably guess who I am from the information I'm giving)
Cons
- Work is mostly individual: there are communication and discussion, but you're at your desk for most of the time. If you're a lover of teamwork, this job is not for you. - Lack of explicit information spreading, in general. You need to look into the logs, if you want to know who's doing what, and you often need to ask other people about high-level design decisions, due to the lack of high level documentation. This isn't as terrible as it may sound, because the company is small, and the boss has an overview of the whole product, but it could probably be better. - It's important to be able to deal with the boss. Even though he does his best, not everybody is compatible with his character. - Working from home is not an option. It is allowed, but only in exceptional cases. - Workplace is in the center of Berlin. Either you live far away (>30' on public means), or rents are expensive. They pay you enough that you're able to comfortably live in the center, though. - Almost flat hierarchy (no room for career advancement)
