Pros
Catered lunches are good Most of the other domain experts are great (though conversation has been discouraged to the point of silence in the office) Pay is good, especially if you can negotiate yourself a good deal as there is no consistency in the pay scale across the company.
Cons
Dataminr is the first AI company with no discernible AI, relying instead on good ol' fashioned human energy to categorise the live social internet. They are obsessed with following protocol (even if it makes no sense) and prioritise quantitative measures over qualitative. This results in the work being extremely repetitive and monotonous. While the hours are on the whole good, you will be expected to stay for meetings. A lot of meetings. All after hours. Almost all of these meetings really felt like they could have been covered by an e-mail. Also beware that you will be expected to start before the time stated in your contract. There is a cult of personality at Dataminr, being an active and enthusiastic member of this cult if the primary criteria for career progression. If you do not fit these criteria then you will not progress. Sycophantism and obsequiousness are rewarded above all else. If you have any skills/experience in your area these and associated ideas will be ignored. Management really are terrible. The increase in remuneration for being a team leader is negligible, as such it attracts a certain calibre of person - namely someone who enjoys the position of power and will blindly enforce any Dataminr directives without question, regardless of how nonsensical they may be. The company will ignore any feedback or new ideas if they do not fit with the current vision of the company (which changes fairly often).
