Kids leading kids. Great culture, poor long-term personal growth.
Pros
A great place to learn the fundamentals. If you need a footing right out of school, you have access to really talented people to work on projects with. It's hard to get through the design test, and those who do get through, are worth their weight in gold. I learned a lot when I was given opportunities to do so. - Culture can be really great if you make friends. There's socials, events, an active Slack group, and universal lunch time so you're forced to sit with people. - Everyone is friendly. Everyone. - Fully stocked kitchen, free catering every Friday.
Cons
Kids leading kids. This leads to a lack of new knowledge or managers without experience. Ultimately, the kids they hire become the kids that lead. Many of your seniors or managers started their first job at KG. Mentorship and training is weak. Everyone is "figuring it out together". This is charming but is also a safety net of an answer when something doesn't work. This can be resolved by improving your own resources to hiring competent seniors within departments, with new knowledge to bring to the company. - No clear structure in career advancement. No education budgets available. No clear idea on how to advance into senior roles (usually just on the whim of the managers and your impressions on upper management). This is due to the inexperienced nature of the company. This can be resolved by hiring a proper HR department to help each department outline clear means of evolving their employees, instead of letting each department/team figure it out themselves. - No work from home, unpaid lunch, 9-5:30. If you can't handle 40hr/wk of being constantly surrounded by loud people, talking, or even the low-lit basement-like Dev area, then too bad cause that's the only place you're allowed to do work in. This can be resolved by reaching out to companies with successful social environments that implement WFH policies, and learning to understand how it works. - You are a resource and upper management will never recognize your efforts. Direct management is great and will try their best to help you grow but their hands are also tied. Prepare for the chance to be stuck on work you never signed up for because upper management planned poorly. Also be prepared to never be acknowledged by upper management. This can be resolved by having empathy. - Favoritism in projects. You have to network your way onto worthwhile projects within the company. These worthwhile projects are important because that's the only opportunity you have to learn. This can be resolved by trusting the employees you hire.