GitLab reviews

Scale makes everything harder, including maintaining culture and practices. People coming from more traditional workplaces default to busywork and lots of meetings (no shade, it's what a lot of people are used to!) instead of being thoughtful about what deserves time and effort. There are many layers of the org to navigate to get anything off the ground, and the tendency now seems to be toward inertia rather than trying creative new things. Salaries are not competitive now that so many other tech companies are remote and offering SF base pay. At this scale, individual successes and achievements are more highly valued than collective ones. This isn't wrong, but doesn't feel great for those who joined the less mature company which had less of a focus on personal bonuses and being "key talent"

introduction of many many layers of middle management 'professionals' to fluff head count in preparation for IPO, resulted in dilution and loss of the culture that made the company what it once was.