Avantages
I worked at DeepL for half a year in 2023 as a project manager in the Editorial (Language Data) team. Note that my review refers to the team that I was in, I’ve experienced many happy campers on other teams. * Supporting non-cis-straight identities not just a fancy label, many LGBTIQ+ workers also in managing positions. * Efforts are made towards fair salaries. * "Working from abroad" is possible within Europe for 8 weeks per year.
Inconvénients
* Seniors in the team always knew the right way, new joiners bringing up ideas was not desired. * Seeking to learn something beyond my own responsibilities was discouraged. * I was never introduced to crucial stakeholders outside the team. Even after half a year I had no face to most of the names that I interacted with on a daily basis through requests. * My desire to understand the direct impact of my own work, and how the engineering teams work (most of whom I never met once in person, see above) was never fulfilled. * Sure, meetings aren't considered fancy these days, but in a vastly remote company they are inevitable for workers to get an idea of why they’re even there. A good meeting culture will support employees’ feeling of belonging. Zero cross-team meetings in a remote company are fatal. * Especially during the first couple of weeks, every new joiner (be it a remote or an on-site company) must have had a 15-minute chat with every stakeholder from other teams; it is inconceivable to me why this was never considered necessary in my team. * Basically any matter that would require help from outside the team had to go through my manager. In any other job I’ve had in my life you would know your way around in the company, know the right people, know whom to slack, and could deal with your stuff proactively and independently like a grown-up. All this resulted in a lack of direction and motivation on my end. Communication with my manager was not easy. Genuine encouragement was sparse. In a remote company, your team leader must not need longer than 1 hour to get back to you on Slack! I like to think of myself as a shiny person who likes to put a smile on others’ faces, but a diamond cannot shine in the dark.