Pros
Without turning this review in to a 10 page love-fest, here are a few reasons why I love New Relic:
- Exec staff: Senior management aren't just pointy-haired bosses. Our SVP of Product and CEO both still code. Our COO/President recently stood up in front of the entire management team and rattled off for almost 2 hours in detail the 2013 goals of Product, Engineering, Biz Dev, Sales, Marketing, and Operations. The attention to detail by our executives is outstanding and speaks to their passion for what we're doing.
- People: Because the exec staff is so solid, they've set the tone for great talent all the way down the line. New Relic takes great pride in making sure new hires not only have the right skills, but are a very strong fit culturally. The team is constantly experimenting with new ways to work and failures are celebrated as learning opportunities.
- Growth: Because New Relic has hired great people and is disrupting a large market, we are growing like crazy. It's always exciting and rewarding to be at a company that consistently breaks new records when it comes to # of leads or sales targets.
- Empowerment: Management encourages individual autonomy and encourages those who have ideas to speak up. While growth inevitably leads to some compartmentalization, New Relic has done a good job of making sure individuals don't feel isolated in their roles.
- Work/life balance: Despite the massive growth, the company stays true to its roots on creating a culture where family life is just as important as work life (if not more so). Execs regularly say things like "this is a marathon, not a sprint" and "we want you to leave enough in the gas tank to go home and enjoy family and friends". The people who work more than 40 hours a week do so because they love their job, rather than because management has created a work-you-to-death culture.
I could go on and on about how great a company New Relic is, but I'll just say that I've worked at big companies and small, as well as two of my own startups. New Relic is full of truly great people, from the executives all the way down to the individual contributors. Ultimately, these people are what make it such a great place to work.
Cons
Due to the rapid growth, the right hand sometimes doesn't know what the left hand is up to. Or in this case, the San Francisco office (sales + marketing) and the Portland office (product). Nothing terrible, but it is the price of growth + split offices.
