DigitalOcean reviews

3.4

58% would recommend to a friend

(450 total reviews)
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Paddy Srinivasan

56% approve of CEO

71% positive business outlook

DigitalOcean has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 450 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The DigitalOcean employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

450 reviews
5.0
May 5, 2017

Core values guide cool work

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1) Complete embrace of remote work and remote culture 2) Interesting work in a great environment to learn new things 3) Core values aren't just platitudes

Cons

1) Remoting takes time to get used to. Slack and Hangouts impede team spirit formation

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DigitalOcean Response
9y
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback. We're certainly working hard to develop our values-based culture, and part of that is embracing the diversity and power of a remote-friendly approach to hiring. We're continuously developing our processes to get remote employees up to speed more quickly -- we think our onboarding is pretty good but please share any ideas you have on how we can make it better and more impactful! And in a company growing as quickly as DO I can promise you that team formation and team cohesion will always be an ever-changing process. We'll continue to keep the value of a healthy environment top of mind - please keep us honest on that and continue to share what's working for you and where we can do better!
5.0
Apr 14, 2017

Great Responsibility, Great Power

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are too many to list here, but I'll break down the points that had the most impact for me: - In everything I've done, I've felt respected and cared for. There was a table full of swag ready for me before I got to the office for my first day, I've been given every possible opportunity to succeed, and I've never felt pressured to do anything if I didn't think it would help me be successful. - The perks are incredible. I work here, and I still have a hard time believing how good the benefits are. My friends actually don't believe me. Commuter benefits for remote employees, plenty of really nice swag, workstations and peripherals ... it's just awesome. - I'm really surprised at how well everyone communicates remotely. I don't even need to ping people most of the time - people are frequently checking any slack channels with new messages, so I can just leave a message and someone will get back to me in a few minutes. I haven't ever worked in a remote culture that feels this good. - I'm constantly encouraged to fix any problems I discover. I manage my goals and projects, and everyone trusts me to know what I'm doing. I'm given a lot of responsibility, but in turn, I feel empowered and eager to improve the product.

Cons

The amount of responsibility I'm given is not something I'm used to from my previous position. At first, I didn't know what to do - I was told, "We're experiencing problems in this area. Talk to some people, come up with a proposal for a solution, and write up some stories." It didn't take too long for me to feel empowered by this approach, but coming from a company that took a more overbearing approach ("We have decided that you will solve these stories, based on problems that we don't think you need to know details about"), it was a bit of a culture shock. It's overall a positive point, but the onboarding learning curve was a little steeper than I'm used to.

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DigitalOcean Response
9y
Thank you for that feedback. It's wonderful to hear the approach we take, and the values we believe in, are resonating with you. Trust and empowerment is the key to helping everyone scale with us at the pace we are growing, and love is embedded in everything we do, with both customers and employees. We recognize there's a learning curve for everyone who comes onboard and hopefully you feel we're helping you navigate that effectively. If we're not - please let us know what you need and how we can do better. I'm so glad to hear how happy you are at DO and please do encourage your colleagues to come join us - we're always looking for more amazing talent!
1.0
Apr 5, 2017

Beware the sinking ship

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free food and good benefits

Cons

Where to start. You'll hear DigitalOcean touting a people first culture. The truth is that saying or writing out culture over and over doesn't make it true. DigitalOcean has had more turnover in the top of the organization due to the remaining two founders who are brilliant but ineffective at organizational planning and leadership. They have clear ideas on what they would like to get done but fail to understand how to manage people in order for those ideas to become reality. If you find yourself in disagreement with them you had better hope that you are related to the founders or your career at DigitalOcean will be short lived. Search LinkedIn for prior DigitalOcean employees and you'll find your search is littered with employees in upper level management and C suite roles. Here is a non-comprehensive list of positions that have left, been demoted or were exited from the organization during the last 2 years: CMO, CFO, VP of Security, 2 directors of marketing, director of networking, director of FP&A, controller, creative director, manager of talent development, multiple product managers, brand design manager. The entire finance team exited the organization during 2016 from analysts to CFO. I judge companies not on what they say but what they do. Unfortunately for DigitalOcean the actions do not bode well for the company.

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DigitalOcean Response
9y
Not going to lie, that one stung a little bit. But as always, we appreciate the feedback. It's fair to say that some of the facts you've laid out are accurate, but it's also really important to keep in mind the context. Like most highly successful, rapidly scaling startups, DigitalOcean is a radically different place than it was two years or even six months ago. What that sometimes means is that the skills, experience and approach that we need from leadership may be different at different points in the organization's lifecycle. While we are a developmentally focused organization and generally default to finding opportunities for people to grow with the company wherever we can, often people still may choose to self-select out when the role, or the evolving culture, no longer feels like a match with their career interests. That's normal, and from my perspective, a good thing. If we can help someone grow and develop in a way that sets them up for an opportunity at another company that we can't provide them here, that's an amazing thing that we should celebrate. That means we did our job as a deliberately developmental organization. Organizations change, and at the pace DO is growing sometimes people change with them. We are still absolutely a "People First" organization -- I wouldn't be here if we weren't -- and we are committed to creating a company that employees love, and where people get to do some of the most interesting, challenging and meaningful work of their careers. I hope that's helpful. While I appreciate the nautical metaphor, I would definitely take issue with the idea that we are a "sinking ship". In the past year alone our company has grown in size by over a third, and we expect to add close to another 20% by year end. Voluntary turnover is approaching single digits. Our revenue continues to climb significantly, and we've added some incredibly talented new senior leaders in the past few months. We are in extremely good health and a very cool place to work - I promise.
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