Pros
Fantastic middle management and staff. You get to regularly collaborate with incredible organizations like the Prelinger Library and EFF.
Cons
Read the definition of 'founderism' before you apply. While there are some real gems in upper management who keep the place afloat, the majority of the Directors are there because they're experts at appealing to the founder's ego and staying in his favor rather than their actual jobs. Staff members are encouraged to leave the org after a few years because feeling ownership over your work and commitment to the mission is a direct threat to his power and control. There is no such thing as a normal or even calm workday, just a series of near-averted disasters and business decisions from on high that range from opaque to nonsensical. Engineers are openly told they are the only staff members with value, but you will never get the funding or resources for the crucial projects that keep the site working, and instead will be told repeatedly to put figurative duct tape over profound structural issues. The archive only survives through the good graces of the unpaid labor of volunteers and former staff members- if you are a key employee who has taken a new job, you are often expected to keep major aspects of the Archive's website and daily operations running until your replacement is hired (however long that may be.) If you're not an engineer, I would encourage you to work anywhere else. The HR department regularly disregarded employee harassment complaints, used personal employee information as leverage and gossip, and its leadership made offensive comments so often that they became the regular punchline for staff gallows humor. No one goes into nonprofit work expecting high wages, but the Archive's are considerably lower than similar nonprofits in the Bay Area. Staff members usually leave because of burnout, frustration, or higher wages elsewhere.
