We're often asked about what it's like to work at GitLab. Every GitLab team
member answers this question a little differently. But there were some
noticeable themes across each of their answers. We've highlighted some of
those key themes that making working at GitLab great.
Gathering Feedback from our Team
We pay close attention to what our employees like and don’t like about
working at GitLab. To get insight from the team, we send out an anonymous
survey to all GitLab team-members on a regular basis. The goal of the survey
is to facilitate an open environment for people to share their thoughts,
ask questions, or raise potential concerns. Feedback, even if it is only
mentioned by one employee, is acknowledged and addressed. Most often, the
feedback captured in the survey is addressed in our Team Call.
Five key themes
Five key themes consistently came out as we got feedback from the team.
The people. Our team members have described each other with words like talented,
caring, approachable, honest, frank, smart, brilliant, and skilled.
The product. One of our team members summed it up nicely when she said,
“It’s great working on a product that I actually love to use.”
I must say, working in the open full time on OSS (in Ruby even!) @gitlab is a very nice and welcome change. Great team and product.
— Josh Frye (@joshfng) January 15, 2016
Open source values. Being involved in an open source project is motivating,
because it’s not just a category, it’s a philosophy. Or to put it in the words of
an anonymous team member, “working on open-source while getting paid for it is a dream job!”
Things that I love about working at @gitlab: Getting in touch with the OSS community. Awesome experience so far.
— A. Felipe Cabargas (@juanpintoduran) March 26, 2016
Freedom. On this theme, it's important to note that GitLab is a remote-only company,
meaning our employees are dispersed across the world. A lot of personal independence comes
with working fully remote, and the people who are drawn to GitLab tend to appreciate that.
Here's a glimpse into our remote-only work culture.
And last, but certainly not least, the opportunity.
Opportunity. There is a great opportunity to learn from the people around you.
GitLab has a large community of teachers and learners helping each other.
Some of these people exist within our company and others are people who contribute their
ideas and knowledge to GitLab. Additionally, the fact that the company is growing presents
an opportunity for team members to expand their skillset into new areas or grow to take
on a leadership role in their existing functional expertise. One GitLab team-member
said, "you have the ability to take on multiple hats and responsibilities, [and] everyone
and everything is open to constant improvement.”
Here’s a more detailed presentation on what our team likes and dislikes, including what
the challenges and problems are, and how we’re dealing with them. We’re proud of the fact that
our employees are pretty happy and we're committed to maintaining that! Perhaps, we'll
even see more GitLab team-members setting up branded home offices
like our Service Engineer, Drew Blessing.
.@GitLab is hiring! Work wherever you're most comfortable...even your own GitLab-branded home office #remotework pic.twitter.com/VMEhBui0Yh
— Drew Blessing (@drewblessing) February 10, 2016
Have a question or a comment? As always, give us a shout.
