Pros
Riot is one of those rare companies where the mission and vision are more than words on a page. We all truly believe in what we're doing and our focus on players lies at the core of every decision we make. Riot is "tough" in the sense that you'll experience an uncomfortable feeling of growth that helps you improve as a professional and a person. If you can adapt, give and receive feedback, and work with the people around you, you'll find a rewarding career at Riot. Riot has pros and cons, and unlike other companies I've worked at, we're aware of our shortcomings and actively working on finding the optimal culture, structure, philosophy, etc. to help us ship the best products. I'm endlessly impressed with our leaders' ability to realize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and weigh that in our cultural and product decisions. Have there been missteps? Yes. Do we learn and improve? Yes. -Autonomy - you'll be given ownership over large problems and expected to deliver with the help of others -Passion - everyone who works at Riot cares deeply about players -Feedback / open-mindedness - feedback is an expectation. No one is above criticism, and your merit is based on what you do, not who you are, how long you've been here, or how good you are at hiding -Agility - doing something "because that's how we've always done it" isn't good enough at Riot. We constantly measure our impact, decisions, and processes to adapt to the current environment -PEOPLE - the people at Riot are unbelievably talented and humble. Every time I talk to a new person, I learn about some fascinating area of expertise, and everyone's so willing to share their experience -Transparency - Riot leadership is extremely accessible and open about our strategy and roadmap. Every couple of weeks we sit down and do an AMA and talk about challenges, products, etc. This extends to teams as well. The environment is very "open door”
Cons
First, some quick thoughts on the current diversity discussion: the recent articles on Kotaku were painful to read. We've been discussing these articles as a company for over a month now (and we've been discussing the problem for years) and I think we're making some great strides. It's horrible that anyone at Riot ever felt like they weren't valued or treated fairly - we need create a better environment and solve this problem at Riot, in the industry, and on planet Earth if we hope to reach equilibrium, and that's a tall order. The reason I'm still here and still writing a five star review is that I'm 100% confident that Riot has the people and tools to solve this problem, and we're seeing the progress right now. There's plenty more to unpack here, but I actually think Riot is in a much better place in regards to diversity and inclusion than any company I've worked at in the past. -Ambiguity - all the autonomy comes with ambiguity. Rioters own their products and decisions, and that can be daunting. It takes some getting used to but it means you'll have a broader scope and more room to grow -Lifecycle - Riot grew incredibly fast and that means we've got some tech and organizational debt to clean up. We're still very much in startup mode but we're learning how to create healthy processes and standards to become more efficient and mature