Pros
You can make some amazing friends in the workplace. The perks are as glamorous as people make them be: feasts at EOQs, unlimited PTO, extravagant events and wild parties, beautiful office space, etc. You can advance your career by playing your cards right and joining at the right time. The products themselves are very unique and innovative.
Cons
Sales Culture - if you are not extroverted, decently good-looking, charismatic, and surface-level fake nice, you will not get far in the Sales org. I have social anxiety every time I walk into the office. I am always overanalyzing if I said the wrong thing, wore the wrong shirt with the wrong pants, or if I look "friendly". Yes, they want you to be a strong performer, but they also want you to be likable. This place is mostly personality-based. I would say 30/70 merit and personality fit. I have seen the company keep low-performers because they could fit in and fire better performers because they didn't. Nepotism runs rampant, which is exacerbated by the fact that workplace relationships are allowed in our policy. Some executives and managers are dating their peers or other individual contributors in the other orgs. Managers are BREATHING down your neck to perform well. That's probably because someone from the top is breathing down their necks. Most people are in their 20s, so if you are tenured, this may not be the place for you. Shady Practices - in our recent mid-year feedback review, there was no way to give official upward feedback to managers, only downward reviews. Additionally, backchanneling is a thing here. They don't ask for references. Leaders use their network to ask around about you. Unstainable - They don't strategically plan ahead. Everyone is so bogged down with work that we are taking it day by day. Quotas get passed out in the middle of the quarter. They can't make up their minds. They want to stop growing and invest in the reps, but then switch it up and focus on hiring because turnover is insane and they want to grow quickly. They hire external leaders to gain new perspectives but don't want to change their ways. I've seen tenured leaders at other companies (+10 years) join Verkada and leave within 1 year. If you are an experienced professional, you will know within your first week what you just got yourself into (and look forward to your 1 year so you can leave). Most of the top dogs here built their career at Verkada and they don't know anything else. They only know the "Verkada" way, and that is to do now and think later. Honestly, I think this company is a cash cow for the owners. We are meant to be sold off to a larger company with the way we are run. Career Advancement - They used to sell the dream of fast-tracking your career here. That is not the reality anymore. The company is so large now that you may not advance as quickly as they say. Be aware that they also sell others on the dream and there are limited spots. If you don't get a spot, don't worry though. Turnover is high and another spot may open up soon.
