Great company, with some growing pains
Pros
When they say that Netflix chooses stunning colleagues, they are not kidding: I am constantly impressed with the smart, thoughtful people I work with on a daily basis. I love the company's focus on Inclusion & Diversity (and, I honestly notice it often, by looking around the room and seeing faces like mine in every meeting), and I am continually impressed at how the company adheres to these principles. The transparency is usually great, and it's fun to be a part of an exciting, growing company. The salary is exceptional, and the benefits are also excellent (note: hourly employees get slightly less in terms of benefits, but it's still great). There's a lot of freedom here to set your schedule and work around personal commitments if you need to (e.g. my kid has a doctor's appointment, I will be WFH, etc.), as well as to make decisions that benefit the company, your team, etc. The culture deck is intimidating when you first read it, but I have found that it's pretty right on - there are some things that I think are not adhered to quite as often as it says, but overall, it's on point.
Cons
Work life balance is a thing, but I do think a lot of it is how well you defend your boundaries - I work a couple of hours of OT a week, and I am generally "on call" in the sense that I will check my email after hours, but I am not expected to work at off hours - in fact, my manager specifically tells me to wait until I am back at work to complete things. I do think upper management works very long hours, and that can lead to burn-out. The flip side of this is that there is a lot of flexibility to take vacation/personal time, and people trust you if you need to take some time for doctor's appointments, stuff for your kids, WFH, etc. The firing culture doesn't seem to touch ICs as much as it does management. It is scary sometimes to see those messages come through, but the leaders do try to set context and make themselves available for comments, questions, concerns, etc. I do think the whole concept of good ideas coming from anywhere is true to some extent, but it definitely depends on the team and the leader to whom you are pitching things. You have to be smart about choosing the right time/people. The onboarding/training needs a lot of work. Not having a solid training for new hires was stressful and alienating. I spent the first few months wondering if I had made the right choice by coming here, but I am a year in, and feeling much more comfortable. They say it takes about 3 months to feel like you are not drowning, and 6 months to feel like you understand everything - that feels pretty accurate to me.
