Brandwatch

Pros

- Relaxed working atmosphere - you're given the freedom to work at your desk or around the office. Whatever makes you comfortable as long as the work gets done.

- A good balance of food perks - Breakfast is provided. Decent coffee and tea. Snacks and soft drinks. Lunch free once a month and nice pastries on a Friday. Also so much water across the office that we could solve the world's water crisis.

- Team vibe is great - The team I've slotted into are seriously nice. They support me if something goes wrong and are really positive when things go right. My immediate manager and his manager are great to work with and I've had regular meetings with both in my first few months just to help me settle in. The nicest thing was that from the first interview everyone was so excited about the role and the possibilities so seeing that translated into value for the team and the company is great. And when I look at other teams they all seem to have the same vibe. There isn't really any suspicion or mistrust between colleagues or teams which is extremely refreshing.

- Personal & professional growth - You're allowed and encourage to pursue projects of your choosing if they add value. Shouldering this amount of responsibility is a clever way of pushing oneself out of one's comfort zone and do things that one wouldn't normally do if just coasting along. It helps build you as a person.

- IT and infrastructure is on point - The team responsible for maintaining the IT infrastructure that everyone who works at Brandwatch are amazing at their job and they've helped make the company so good at what it does. The teams who maintain the infrastructure on which Brandwatch runs its projects on are at the very top of their game and its amazing to see things evolve as time goes on.

- Documentation: Everything is encouraged to be documented either on confluence or google drive. Usually its the case that they're cross linked. At the end of meetings for example its encouraged for people to take snapshots of what was drawn on the whiteboard and this gets shared on Google Drive.

- Meetings are short and to the point and always involve everyone which is awesome.

- Work/Life balance is great - It is made pointedly clear that you might want to arrive at 08;30, that your work day starts properly at 09:00 and that it ends at 17:30. For someone who has been used to burning the midnight oil on a regular basis in previous jobs this was very refreshing. Also HR and management try to help as best as they can if events outside of work get in the way. Be honest with them and they can help in terms of parental leave and so forth. Its that way of doing things which helps people working at Brandwatch do the things that they do.

- New starter experience - From the free welcome pack (I got a tote bag, notepad, water bottle, etc) to bundling you up with other new starters so you all have your first day at the same time; the whole experience in the first two weeks was fantastic. As I commute into Brighton from near SE London my boss suggested that I use accommodation owned by Brandwatch to stay at during my first couple of weeks which helped a lot! You really get made to feel welcome and through that you're likely to buy into the Brandwatch plan.

- Summer & Christmas parties - They are great and fit the Brandwatch way which is not crazily over the top but just right. They're always the talk of the company which is a good sign.

Advice to Management

- Keep recruiting intelligently. Don't rush into anything and make sure you keep hiring the best.
- Keep the excellent office atmosphere going.
- Keep encourage inter-team work.