Avantages
At StreamSets, you'll be allowed to chart your own course, within reason. Senior leadership is very busy and doesn't have time to poke into how you do your job, so they'll let you get on with it. There's more space for creativity here, and a lot of tolerance to explore ways to solve problems that might lead to dead ends. I had a couple of early experiences where I was thinking through a problem and chased down a dead end. I apologized to my boss for wasting time, and the response was not the typical "did you fail to plan, or fail to execute on your plan?" but "that was a good thing to think about, can you apply any of what you learned to the problem you were studying?" A number of people have moved around the company to find the best fit for them, too. This is a very technical product, with a lot of complexities. Normally this is a recipe for a terrible bro culture, but that just doesn't happen here. The work environment inspired me to find ways to contribute to diversity and inclusion, which is not an issue that was particularly important to me before I started working here. StreamSets really cares about its employees - your benefits are fully paid for you and family. (I thought there was a mistake when I was selecting my health insurance and my contribution was ZERO for anything I picked!) When we were forced to work from home because of COVID, the company's wellness benefit was extended to equipment for fitness and a number of people bought Pelotons and ride together. You will feel like you belong here. Heck, when I interviewed, I was invited to a holiday gift exchange, and I tried to decline by observing that I hadn't brought a gift to my interview. It turns out the office manager bought spare gifts so everybody could participate, including future employees!
Inconvénients
The product is complex, and the product line has grown organically, so it would benefit from unification. (The team is working on this, though!) The market space is crowded, with competitors that are both lower-end and higher-end, so competing from both above and below is an ever-present challenge.