Pros
Cloudera is just an outstandingly solid company. From the very beginning, the company has always taken itself very seriously and behaved very maturely. The company is super ethical and cares about the success of its customers. The executive team is awesome. I trust Tom, Mike, Jim, and Amr implicitly. Jim may just be my favorite executive ever. With the outrageous growth trajectory that we're on, there is an endless amount of opportunity within the company to take on new roles and responsibilities. If a problem needs to be fixed, you go fix it. The people are excellent and the culture is respectful and accepting. We have great work-life balance and treat our employees like people. And then there's the fact that Cloudera is leading the charge in the big data revolution. We're not just trying to launch a successful business. We're fundamentally changing the way whole industries store and interact with their data. The potential impact afforded to us as employees of Cloudera is huge. We're in a fast-moving and exciting space, and we're in the catbird seat. It just doesn't get more fun and exciting than that. And did I mention that we just took a billion in funding? That's the largest investment round for a private software company in history. It's good to be us. If it's not clear, I love Cloudera. When I left my last job, I swore I wasn't going to stay anywhere else more than 2 years. I passed that mark 2 years ago with Cloudera, and I'm still here. This company is going to knock it out of the park, and I'm having a blast being a part of making it happen.
Cons
I have two quibbles with Cloudera. The first is that the company has not historically been very liberal with options. That's starting to change, but for most folks with whom I've discussed it, the initial grant is still the vast majority of their shares. The second is that the company takes a very conservative approach to marketing. Where some of our competitors crow about every tiny success they have, we occasionally fail to take credit for major accomplishments. It's good that we're nurturing credibility by speaking softly and carrying a large stick, but I'd really like to see us being a little more forward. Beyond those two things, I really don't have much complain about.
