Pros
The culture as articulated by Frank, its CEO, is excellent. Based on that alone, easily a 5 star company. I'd recommend his book, Amp it Up, to anyone and especially to those that join the company. Even further, I'd recommend some of the books that influenced Amp it Up such as Good to Great, Crossing the Chasm, and The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. The company values speed of execution, so it is inflexible by design. This help iteration speed, which ultimately leads to better quality and better decisions on a macro scale, even if on a micro scale, bad decisions get made from time to time. Its inflexibility might not feel fun to everyone all the time, but it is undoubtedly a strength that leads to decisions that are more fair and fast. The culture is intended to be direct and to hold co-workers to high standards in a professional and constructive way. It is meant for the best idea to win, and for decisions to get made based on the merit of the idea. Criticism is rarely any fun, but that's how people and company's grow. It is quite good at enterprise go-to-market activities, and there are some very smart and talented marketers and sales people.
Cons
It tries to not be political, but it is. The culture as articulated by Frank is an ideal culture to insulate a company from politics, but the problem is that the culture does not in fact permeate all areas of the business. In some areas of the business, decisions get made based on opinions more so than results, and well-intentioned critique gets heard as an attack by some people in leadership roles. So if you think a little bit differently or are neuro-divergent in any way, don't expect the company to welcome your perspective, however well reasoned and informed it may be. To thrive at Snowflake, it is much easier to go with the grain rather than push to reform. You can get by being likable and by being friendly to peoples' face, while at the same time complaining about them behind their back or in indirect ways. The company's success has led to fervent belief that the individuals that have been at the company for some time are exceptional and have higher standards than people at other tech companies. Of course, this is what basically every company says and believes, but at Snowflake it's belief in its own superiority is blinding. There's a lot of Kool Aid drinkers that don't quite understand the culture as intended, and apply it in their own way to suit their own ends, at the expense of the company.
