Incredible Opportunity with a few flaws - Software Engineer Graphiq Employee Review

FindTheBest is the ideal opportunity for someone who wants to work their butt off, learn a lot, and have some fun while doing it. I know a lot of people would put the fact that people work long hours as a con; that being said it was a breath of fresh air seeing everybody really committed to the long-term goals of the company. As far as the work goes, FindTheBest is solving a pretty difficult problem of providing insight to consumers of data. With that comes some great engineering problems (analysis, visual representation of data, normalizing data sets, etc..) as well as non-engineering problems (product management, sales opportunities/monetization). FindTheBest also holds "FTB University", where every other Friday or so somebody who has found success comes in to speak about their story, background, how they got to be so successful, and what they think of FindTheBest. It could be somebody from a VC firm or someone from the entertainment industry. Having the opportunity to hear from those people and pick their brains is difficult to find elsewhere. Management was also pretty good as well. It's easy to get facetime with your manager as nobody has an office and schedules are always pretty open. For the most part you know how you're performing and how you can improve. Perfomance reviews occurred twice a year and raises/promotions were normally handed around that time (with some in between as well). Kevin O'Connor (CEO) knows what he's doing. I cannot speak enough on how lucky I was to have him as the CEO of my first job coming out of college. I compare every manager/CEO I have had since to Kevin. Not only is he wildly intelligent, he is engaged with his employees. He's out there playing volleyball, working more hours than most people (even though he has a family), and is dedicated to helping his employees reach their potential and advance their careers. As far as the culture goes, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Catered food a couple times a week. Full gym in the office (squat rack included!). Yoga classes. Crossfit trainers at lunch. An office on a cliff overlooking the beach. Volleyball/dodgeball/whatever you want to do almost daily. There were times when it was difficult for me to get used to the work hard/play hard culture, but everyone is always so welcoming and up for hanging out on the beach on the weekends (or even during lunch since the office is next to a beach) or getting food and drinks. Santa Barbara is also a beautiful town with a good amount to do. FindTheBest is very much about owning your own career. If you think something should be changed, change it. If you disagree, speak up. If you don't have that attitude then it will be difficult to find success.