Pros
Free fruit, good coffee, good pay. The design and location of the office are very cool. It's a young environment, so there are lots of opportunities to make good friends.
Cons
Where do I start? The first day on the job, I went to a morning meeting and then was told to "settle in," then my boss never spoke to me for the rest of the week. Regardless, I pitched things to do each day that week for the group meeting, but it never received a response. I got zero direction or training. I actually didn't know what my job was the entire time I was there. The bathrooms don't lock. A colleague walked in on me while I was peeing. That led to a lot of awkwardness. Fix the locks. I've worked for top publishing companies and know how to pitch and write stories. You have to know the audience you're writing for and their interests. I came into the job asking for those basics, and they weren't given to me. When I came up with ideas anyway, there was no editorial feedback. The job of an editor is to provide shape and critiquing, and there none of either. For a publishing company, it was shocking there weren't even phones at the desks. And my cell phone didn't get service in the building. If they're trying to create a communications company, shouldn't a means of communication be a basic requirement? When asked about this, management put in a request but nothing was ever done. The work/life balance made zero sense. People were in at 6 a.m. and out at 7 p.m. That would make sense if there were that much to do, but this schedule was mostly born out of management not knowing how a news site should function. Breaking news about celebrity health conditions do not warrant such long hours, and it should be common sense that no one comes to the site for that. They go to People.
