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This will sound like blatant propaganda for GitLab, but you'll have to take my word that I'm being sincere here: GitLab is by far the best company I've worked

This will sound like blatant propaganda for GitLab, but you'll have to take my word that I'm being sincere here: GitLab is by far the best company I've worked at and the best company you could work for, as far as I can see. The values that you see in the handbook are really what every single one of my colleagues works and lives by. People frequently take time off and the team is always supportive, whether it is for a long vacation, personal matters or just to play a newly released videogame. This happens at every level in the organisation. Asynchronous communication is hard. We were lucky that we've stuck to insisting on doing this well since the very start of GitLab Inc and we're continuously working on making it easier to contribute to documentation and to encourage everyone to do the same. Interestingly, more and more of my colleagues (and myself included) are moving house to their favorite places to live. Often in other countries. Remote work in itself does not guarantee that you're comfortable enough to make big life changes, you need trust in the company you're working for. I believe that by being transparent, fair and understanding of what makes a good work/life balance, we are slowly achieving to gain that trust.

kimmshibal 10y ago
What if i want to "sleep" for 30min?
- jobvandervoort 10y ago
  Third line in taking time off in the handbook [0]: > You don't need to worry about taking time off to go to the gym, take a nap, go grocery shopping, doing household chores, helping someone, taking care of a loved one, etc. If something comes up or takes longer than expected and you have urgent tasks and you're able to communicate, just ensure the rest of the team knows and someone can pick up any urgent tasks. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#paid-time-off https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#paid-time-off
satysin 10y ago
Sounds amazing. You need any London based project managers? ;)
- sytse 10y ago
  Thanks! We rarely need someone in a specific location. Sometimes we do need support engineers in a specific time zone. We don't have projects managers yet, we try to use GitLab as our project manager :) But have a look at our vacancies on https://about.gitlab.com/jobs https://about.gitlab.com/jobs
- jobvandervoort 10y ago
  Well, we don't care where you're located! We're not looking for project managers. But you can see all our current jobs on our job page [0]. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/
  - jack-ess 10y ago
    No junior jobs, eh?
    - jobvandervoort 10y ago
      We have a few junior team members [0]. If you think you would make a great fit in one of the roles, but at a more junior level, I urge you to still apply. The respective hiring manager can let you know whether it's possible to fulfill the same role as a junior. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/team/ https://about.gitlab.com/team/
      - itsdrewmiller 10y ago
        If you are open to people applying that don't quite meet the requirements of the position, you should change the position description. It's well documented that this type of approach tends to reduce the diversity of applicants. (Not to be a nag - I think it is great that you folks are sharing this, and it sounds like a great place to work.)
        sytse 10y ago
        The diversity is indeed an important issue. We thought about this and all of our job posts contain the following text: "Avoid the confidence gap; you do not have to match all the listed requirements exactly to apply.". Confidence gap links to http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-conf... For an example see https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/production-engineer/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/production-engineer/ Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.
lloeki 10y ago
I've been pondering about applying for way too long, forever waiting to complete this or that FOSS project of mine, but your feedback sounds too much like the people I want to work with: kind and open (which I've experienced when contributing), from which trust comes naturally. Screw it, I'll be applying soon.
- jobvandervoort 10y ago
  Great to hear. Good luck with the application!
morgante 10y ago
If you don't mind me asking, is the pay competitive? I definitely like the ethos of GitLab, but unfortunately most of the remote-only companies I've interviewed with just don't offer salaries competitive with either SV/NYC tech or what I can make doing remote contracting.
- sytse 10y ago
  Our pay depends on your location. So if you're currently charging an SF rate without the expenses of living there you're better off.
  - fweespeech 10y ago
    Have you considered open salaries (just the formula really would be all that was needed) like Buffer?
    - sytse 10y ago
      Yes, we're working on a global compensation framework. This is hinted at on https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/#hiring-processa-namehiring-processa https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/#hiring-processa-na... "The hiring manager can then make the actual offer to the applicant. This may change if/when we have a global compensation framework in place." and in the job description of the Director of People Operations https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/dir-or-vp-of-people-ops/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/dir-or-vp-of-people-ops/ "Compensation guidelines that work worldwide but tailored to local markets, to the city level" For now only are principles are detailed on https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/#compensation-principles https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/#compens... one important one: "We pay on the lower end of market rates for engineering positions because we offer the benefit of working on open source (great workflow, peers, build reputation); most engineers take a pay cut to join."
      - fweespeech 10y ago
        Cool. I look forward to seeing a blog post when you have that compensation framework completed. :) I've seen/heard words like that meaning anything from a 10% paycut to a 55% paycut in practical terms, its too big a range for me to really take away an effective idea of GitLab's pay level which is why I was curious about the more concrete form. A 10-15% haircut for a place as good as GitLab sounds on paper seems reasonable, a 50% haircut...not so much.

kimmshibal 10y ago

What if i want to "sleep" for 30min?

jobvandervoort 10y ago
Third line in taking time off in the handbook [0]: > You don't need to worry about taking time off to go to the gym, take a nap, go grocery shopping, doing household chores, helping someone, taking care of a loved one, etc. If something comes up or takes longer than expected and you have urgent tasks and you're able to communicate, just ensure the rest of the team knows and someone can pick up any urgent tasks. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#paid-time-off https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#paid-time-off

satysin 10y ago

Sounds amazing. You need any London based project managers? ;)

sytse 10y ago
Thanks! We rarely need someone in a specific location. Sometimes we do need support engineers in a specific time zone. We don't have projects managers yet, we try to use GitLab as our project manager :) But have a look at our vacancies on https://about.gitlab.com/jobs https://about.gitlab.com/jobs
jobvandervoort 10y ago
Well, we don't care where you're located! We're not looking for project managers. But you can see all our current jobs on our job page [0]. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/
- jack-ess 10y ago
  No junior jobs, eh?
  - jobvandervoort 10y ago
    We have a few junior team members [0]. If you think you would make a great fit in one of the roles, but at a more junior level, I urge you to still apply. The respective hiring manager can let you know whether it's possible to fulfill the same role as a junior. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/team/ https://about.gitlab.com/team/
    - itsdrewmiller 10y ago
      If you are open to people applying that don't quite meet the requirements of the position, you should change the position description. It's well documented that this type of approach tends to reduce the diversity of applicants. (Not to be a nag - I think it is great that you folks are sharing this, and it sounds like a great place to work.)
      - sytse 10y ago
        The diversity is indeed an important issue. We thought about this and all of our job posts contain the following text: "Avoid the confidence gap; you do not have to match all the listed requirements exactly to apply.". Confidence gap links to http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-conf... For an example see https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/production-engineer/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/production-engineer/ Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

lloeki 10y ago

I've been pondering about applying for way too long, forever waiting to complete this or that FOSS project of mine, but your feedback sounds too much like the people I want to work with: kind and open (which I've experienced when contributing), from which trust comes naturally. Screw it, I'll be applying soon.

jobvandervoort 10y ago
Great to hear. Good luck with the application!

morgante 10y ago

If you don't mind me asking, is the pay competitive? I definitely like the ethos of GitLab, but unfortunately most of the remote-only companies I've interviewed with just don't offer salaries competitive with either SV/NYC tech or what I can make doing remote contracting.

sytse 10y ago
Our pay depends on your location. So if you're currently charging an SF rate without the expenses of living there you're better off.
- fweespeech 10y ago
  Have you considered open salaries (just the formula really would be all that was needed) like Buffer?
  - sytse 10y ago
    Yes, we're working on a global compensation framework. This is hinted at on https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/#hiring-processa-namehiring-processa https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/#hiring-processa-na... "The hiring manager can then make the actual offer to the applicant. This may change if/when we have a global compensation framework in place." and in the job description of the Director of People Operations https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/dir-or-vp-of-people-ops/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/dir-or-vp-of-people-ops/ "Compensation guidelines that work worldwide but tailored to local markets, to the city level" For now only are principles are detailed on https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/#compensation-principles https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/#compens... one important one: "We pay on the lower end of market rates for engineering positions because we offer the benefit of working on open source (great workflow, peers, build reputation); most engineers take a pay cut to join."
    - fweespeech 10y ago
      Cool. I look forward to seeing a blog post when you have that compensation framework completed. :) I've seen/heard words like that meaning anything from a 10% paycut to a 55% paycut in practical terms, its too big a range for me to really take away an effective idea of GitLab's pay level which is why I was curious about the more concrete form. A 10-15% haircut for a place as good as GitLab sounds on paper seems reasonable, a 50% haircut...not so much.