Netflix is a great place to work for a couple of years and get on your resume, then leave for the next opportunity
Pros
- Netflix treats their employees like adults, giving them both "freedom & responsibility" (a favorite company catchphrase) to do their jobs. Not hampered by lots of processes or structure, employees are empowered to find the best and most direct solutions to their problems - Great work environment that's casual but high performance. The emphasis is on results, and not on face time in the office. If you need to take time off or work from home, you can, as long as your work gets done - Full of really smart, fun people. You get the chance to work with a lot of highly competent and impressive employees. - Typical benefits are fine (health insurance, etc.), but the extra perks are especially nice, such as no vacation limit and a generous hardware/gadget policy - It's nice to work for a brand that consumers love. People tend to get excited when they hear you work at Netflix. Overall, Netflix is one of the best work environments I've been in, except for a few major downsides ...
Cons
- There is essentially no career growth or promotions within the company. Most positions are filled externally, and people tend to stay in the exact same job for a couple of years before they get frustrated and leave. This is the number one employee complaint, which senior management knows about and seems to implicitly support - Very high turnover, due to both voluntary departures and frequent terminations. High pressure, high performance culture coupled with frequent firings often create a culture of fear - Titles are deflated one level lower than the rest of the industry. This is fine while at Netflix (compensation is usually appropriate for the work you do), but can be difficult once you want to leave Netflix and are looking for your next job - As a growing company, there are increasing office politics. Netflix is no longer a small start-up, and it's suffering its growing pains as it becomes a large, established company Overall, most employees love working at Netflix, but eventually get frustrated by the lack of career growth.
