7 ms·

Teleport seems like a genuinely cool product. With that said, the company really needs to improve its interview process--my experience was downright terrible,

Teleport seems like a genuinely cool product. With that said, the company really needs to improve its interview process--my experience was downright terrible, and Glassdoor shows that other people had a similar experience

GeorgeHahn 5y ago
As a current candidate, I'd be interested in hearing more about your interview experience.
sparc24 5y ago
Their pricing is bat shit crazy. Stay far, far away.
- sofixa 5y ago
  It's a security product that could be a huge productivity gainer. All competitors i can think of are also expensive.
  - michaelt 5y ago
    If for some bureaucratic reason you can't use SSH, which the industry has been quite happily using for 20+ years....
    - sofixa 5y ago
      It's not about not using SSH, it's about: * having an easy way to connect to all machines in environments where not everything is built the same way and on the same cloud or whatever. A big company can have a ton of teams building stuff across a variety of clouds and DCs. Not to mention those machines could be dynamic, so you need to add discovery. Heck, there might be Windows boxes here and there. * having audit logs of who run what command on which server when * extra security features like team management, MFA, etc. You can do all that (minus audit logging) with SSH, sure, but it takes time and effort by the people who care least ( practitioners) about those things ( security teams). Buying something like Teleport or Wallix or Boundary solves all those problems at once.
- cmiles74 5y ago
  Is it really expensive? Their website lists a 14 day trial but I don't see any pricing, just links to "Contact Sales".
  - remram 5y ago
    Wow, a pricing page with no numbers: https://goteleport.com/pricing/ https://goteleport.com/pricing/ Amazing
    - mwmaxey 5y ago
      I work at Smallstep here's one with numbers: https://smallstep.com/sso-ssh/pricing/#pricing https://smallstep.com/sso-ssh/pricing/#pricing
    - tailspin2019 5y ago
      I share the dislike for “call us for pricing” model. But in fairness there is a de facto number on this pricing page, and that’s zero. Their free open source plan. So I give them a bit of credit for that. It’s the companies that have no free tier or even an advertised monthly cost plan at all and just a “call us for pricing” that I find a real turn off (even in roles where I have been a potential “enterprise” customer). So I’d definitely draw a distinction between the two.
  - manfre 5y ago
    I previously contacted their sales to get a sense of pricing while evaluating options. Their enterprise pricing starts at $24,000. In the realm of business security products, that might not be overly expensive. I don't know what that translates to per user. I decided not to go beyond the initial email exchanges because their sales process with excessively opaque pricing gave me the same vibe of some one trying to sell me a time share.
- tener 5y ago
  Free, extremely capable open source version: https://goteleport.com/teleport/download/ https://goteleport.com/teleport/download/ You don't get support and some other things (see: https://goteleport.com/docs/enterprise/introduction/ https://goteleport.com/docs/enterprise/introduction/), but this is not a "demo" version where you cannot do actual work. Kind of crazy indeed.
- alexk 5y ago
  Sasha, CTO @ Teleport here. I agree, our enterprise product is quite expensive. Let me explain why: * We are going through several security audits by third party agencies several times per year. We are trying to hire the best security agencies to audit our code and it is quite expensive. * We are recruiting globally and try to place our comp at 90th+ percentile of the compensation as listed in opencomp.com and other sources we have access to. * Our sales process also takes time, and the sales team employs sales engineers, sales and customer success specialists to assist with deployments of such a critical piece of the infrastructure. * For all our employees we have wellness benefits for home office improvement, personal development, healthcare packages. All of these factors above add up and we charge a lot for building a quality security product supported 24/7 across the globe. However, this might not work for everyone, and we have a completely free and open source version that people can use without ever talking to our sales team: https://github.com/gravitational/teleport https://github.com/gravitational/teleport
  - gk1 5y ago
    Hey Sasha :) Price should be justified by value to the customer, not overhead costs of the company. Even though your value/benefits are listed on the site, this is a good opportunity to reiterate them.
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      It’s an intersection of those two things. Hawks can profitably prey on squirrels, while lions could not. There’s room in the security market for $10/mo/user products and room for <whatever it is that Teleport charges>. If not, they’ll find out in an expensive and painful fashion… Given that they have paying customers, their price is justified to at least those customers.
    - alexk 5y ago
      gk1 thanks, this is a valid point! Teleport solves many quite important problems four our enterprise customers' infrastructure. Our users use Teleport to replace secrets and static keys with short lived certificates, manage certificate authorities, add audit and compliance controls for access to critical data, consolidate access for SSH, Kubernetes, Databases and Desktops.
- tptacek 5y ago
  You don't need their paid product. The free (open source) version is excellent.
mwmaxey 5y ago
I work at Smallstep We are hiring and we have a non-terrible interview process (and amazing culture)!
alexk 5y ago
Hey, I'm Sasha, CTO @ Teleport. I have designed our interview process and have described it here: https://goteleport.com/blog/coding-challenge/ https://goteleport.com/blog/coding-challenge/ We are also trying to be as transparent as possible with our challenges being open source: https://github.com/gravitational/careers/tree/main/challenges https://github.com/gravitational/careers/tree/main/challenge... and requirements being published here: https://github.com/gravitational/careers/blob/main/levels.pdf https://github.com/gravitational/careers/blob/main/levels.pd... I am sorry to hear that you had bad experience. Our interview process is a trade-off and has one big downside - it may take more time and efforts compared to classic interviews. It could also feel disappointing if the team does not vote in favor of the candidate's application. However, if there was something else wrong with your experience and you are willing to share, please send me an email to sasha@goteleport.com.
- tptacek 5y ago
  I like Teleport. If you're doing work samples, why is your team voting in favor of applications? Part of the point of work samples is factoring out that kind of subjectivity.
  - alexk 5y ago
    That's a fair question. The team votes on specific aspects of implementation that can not be verified by running a program, for example: * Error handling and code structure - whether the code processes errors well and has a clear and modular structure or crashes on invalid inputs, or the code works, but is all in one function. * Communication - whether all PR comments have been acknowledged during the code review process and fixed. Others, like whether the code uses good setup of HTTPS and has authn are more clear. However, you have a good point. I will chat to the team and see if we can reduce the amount of things that are subject to personal interpretation and see if we can replace them with auto checks going forward.
    - tptacek 5y ago
      We're a work-sample culture here too, and one of the big concerns we have is asking people to do work-sample tests and then face a subjective interview. Too many companies have cargo-culted work-sample tests as just another hurdle in the standard interview loop, and everyone just knows that the whole game is about winning the interview loop, not about the homework assignments. A rubric written in advance that would allow a single person to vet a work sample response mostly cures the problem you have right now. The red flag is the vote.
stusmall 5y ago
I'm with you. I really like the concept of their product and would be interested in using it. I applied a while ago but bowed out during the phone screen. There were a couple strange things that came up during the short call but there was one that wasn't forgivable. The post was clearly for a rust developer but they were upfront that they don't have any rust and are primarily a go shop. He said they put rust in the job title because it helps attract smart, passionate people. It really put me off. I’m not dead set on developing in any given language. I like rust and have been working with it for a while but that isn’t a deal breaker for me. The thing is that if our introduction starts off with dishonesty I don't have any reason to expect it to get better from there. What will they mislead me about after I’m hired?
- schemingguild 5y ago
  Roles shouldnt be put up as rust, but there is clearly rust in the github repository. Its not a lot but my understanding is the usage is somewhat growing. https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/search?l=rust https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/search?l=rust
  - stusmall 5y ago
    According to the gitlogs this conversation happened about a year before those were added. We talked about this pretty point blank. It was made clear that while they might use rust in the future and they had rust fans internally, it was a go position.
    - schemingguild 5y ago
      Ah right, that sucks
    - dijit 5y ago
      FWIW I had the same experience with Embark Studios. (Game Dev in Stockholm that prides themselves on doing gamedev in rust.) Applied for a rust job. Got a Go coding assessment. Was told that the job was Go based.

GeorgeHahn 5y ago

As a current candidate, I'd be interested in hearing more about your interview experience.

sparc24 5y ago

Their pricing is bat shit crazy. Stay far, far away.

sofixa 5y ago
It's a security product that could be a huge productivity gainer. All competitors i can think of are also expensive.
- michaelt 5y ago
  If for some bureaucratic reason you can't use SSH, which the industry has been quite happily using for 20+ years....
  - sofixa 5y ago
    It's not about not using SSH, it's about: * having an easy way to connect to all machines in environments where not everything is built the same way and on the same cloud or whatever. A big company can have a ton of teams building stuff across a variety of clouds and DCs. Not to mention those machines could be dynamic, so you need to add discovery. Heck, there might be Windows boxes here and there. * having audit logs of who run what command on which server when * extra security features like team management, MFA, etc. You can do all that (minus audit logging) with SSH, sure, but it takes time and effort by the people who care least ( practitioners) about those things ( security teams). Buying something like Teleport or Wallix or Boundary solves all those problems at once.
cmiles74 5y ago
Is it really expensive? Their website lists a 14 day trial but I don't see any pricing, just links to "Contact Sales".
- remram 5y ago
  Wow, a pricing page with no numbers: https://goteleport.com/pricing/ https://goteleport.com/pricing/ Amazing
  - mwmaxey 5y ago
    I work at Smallstep here's one with numbers: https://smallstep.com/sso-ssh/pricing/#pricing https://smallstep.com/sso-ssh/pricing/#pricing
  - tailspin2019 5y ago
    I share the dislike for “call us for pricing” model. But in fairness there is a de facto number on this pricing page, and that’s zero. Their free open source plan. So I give them a bit of credit for that. It’s the companies that have no free tier or even an advertised monthly cost plan at all and just a “call us for pricing” that I find a real turn off (even in roles where I have been a potential “enterprise” customer). So I’d definitely draw a distinction between the two.
- manfre 5y ago
  I previously contacted their sales to get a sense of pricing while evaluating options. Their enterprise pricing starts at $24,000. In the realm of business security products, that might not be overly expensive. I don't know what that translates to per user. I decided not to go beyond the initial email exchanges because their sales process with excessively opaque pricing gave me the same vibe of some one trying to sell me a time share.
tener 5y ago
Free, extremely capable open source version: https://goteleport.com/teleport/download/ https://goteleport.com/teleport/download/ You don't get support and some other things (see: https://goteleport.com/docs/enterprise/introduction/ https://goteleport.com/docs/enterprise/introduction/), but this is not a "demo" version where you cannot do actual work. Kind of crazy indeed.
alexk 5y ago
Sasha, CTO @ Teleport here. I agree, our enterprise product is quite expensive. Let me explain why: * We are going through several security audits by third party agencies several times per year. We are trying to hire the best security agencies to audit our code and it is quite expensive. * We are recruiting globally and try to place our comp at 90th+ percentile of the compensation as listed in opencomp.com and other sources we have access to. * Our sales process also takes time, and the sales team employs sales engineers, sales and customer success specialists to assist with deployments of such a critical piece of the infrastructure. * For all our employees we have wellness benefits for home office improvement, personal development, healthcare packages. All of these factors above add up and we charge a lot for building a quality security product supported 24/7 across the globe. However, this might not work for everyone, and we have a completely free and open source version that people can use without ever talking to our sales team: https://github.com/gravitational/teleport https://github.com/gravitational/teleport
- gk1 5y ago
  Hey Sasha :) Price should be justified by value to the customer, not overhead costs of the company. Even though your value/benefits are listed on the site, this is a good opportunity to reiterate them.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    It’s an intersection of those two things. Hawks can profitably prey on squirrels, while lions could not. There’s room in the security market for $10/mo/user products and room for <whatever it is that Teleport charges>. If not, they’ll find out in an expensive and painful fashion… Given that they have paying customers, their price is justified to at least those customers.
  - alexk 5y ago
    gk1 thanks, this is a valid point! Teleport solves many quite important problems four our enterprise customers' infrastructure. Our users use Teleport to replace secrets and static keys with short lived certificates, manage certificate authorities, add audit and compliance controls for access to critical data, consolidate access for SSH, Kubernetes, Databases and Desktops.
tptacek 5y ago
You don't need their paid product. The free (open source) version is excellent.

mwmaxey 5y ago

I work at Smallstep We are hiring and we have a non-terrible interview process (and amazing culture)!

alexk 5y ago

Hey, I'm Sasha, CTO @ Teleport. I have designed our interview process and have described it here: https://goteleport.com/blog/coding-challenge/ https://goteleport.com/blog/coding-challenge/ We are also trying to be as transparent as possible with our challenges being open source: https://github.com/gravitational/careers/tree/main/challenges https://github.com/gravitational/careers/tree/main/challenge... and requirements being published here: https://github.com/gravitational/careers/blob/main/levels.pdf https://github.com/gravitational/careers/blob/main/levels.pd... I am sorry to hear that you had bad experience. Our interview process is a trade-off and has one big downside - it may take more time and efforts compared to classic interviews. It could also feel disappointing if the team does not vote in favor of the candidate's application. However, if there was something else wrong with your experience and you are willing to share, please send me an email to sasha@goteleport.com.

tptacek 5y ago
I like Teleport. If you're doing work samples, why is your team voting in favor of applications? Part of the point of work samples is factoring out that kind of subjectivity.
- alexk 5y ago
  That's a fair question. The team votes on specific aspects of implementation that can not be verified by running a program, for example: * Error handling and code structure - whether the code processes errors well and has a clear and modular structure or crashes on invalid inputs, or the code works, but is all in one function. * Communication - whether all PR comments have been acknowledged during the code review process and fixed. Others, like whether the code uses good setup of HTTPS and has authn are more clear. However, you have a good point. I will chat to the team and see if we can reduce the amount of things that are subject to personal interpretation and see if we can replace them with auto checks going forward.
  - tptacek 5y ago
    We're a work-sample culture here too, and one of the big concerns we have is asking people to do work-sample tests and then face a subjective interview. Too many companies have cargo-culted work-sample tests as just another hurdle in the standard interview loop, and everyone just knows that the whole game is about winning the interview loop, not about the homework assignments. A rubric written in advance that would allow a single person to vet a work sample response mostly cures the problem you have right now. The red flag is the vote.

stusmall 5y ago

I'm with you. I really like the concept of their product and would be interested in using it. I applied a while ago but bowed out during the phone screen. There were a couple strange things that came up during the short call but there was one that wasn't forgivable. The post was clearly for a rust developer but they were upfront that they don't have any rust and are primarily a go shop. He said they put rust in the job title because it helps attract smart, passionate people. It really put me off. I’m not dead set on developing in any given language. I like rust and have been working with it for a while but that isn’t a deal breaker for me. The thing is that if our introduction starts off with dishonesty I don't have any reason to expect it to get better from there. What will they mislead me about after I’m hired?

schemingguild 5y ago
Roles shouldnt be put up as rust, but there is clearly rust in the github repository. Its not a lot but my understanding is the usage is somewhat growing. https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/search?l=rust https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/search?l=rust
- stusmall 5y ago
  According to the gitlogs this conversation happened about a year before those were added. We talked about this pretty point blank. It was made clear that while they might use rust in the future and they had rust fans internally, it was a go position.
  - schemingguild 5y ago
    Ah right, that sucks
  - dijit 5y ago
    FWIW I had the same experience with Embark Studios. (Game Dev in Stockholm that prides themselves on doing gamedev in rust.) Applied for a rust job. Got a Go coding assessment. Was told that the job was Go based.