Opiniones sobre think-cell

Ventajas

My current colleagues with permanent developer positions have done a marvelous job in their glassdoor reviews, describing all the reasons why they like working at think-cell. I can simply subscribe to what they said, and I do not want to repeat it all. When my brother worked in the think-cell office for a day (completely unrelated job, merely using a desk and wifi for his own work), he told me afterwards that he... liked the friendly and relaxed yet focused working atmosphere. I strongly agree. Just consider: think-cell has a reputation for an extraordinarily rigorous hiring process and for extremely high coding standards. With think-cell on your resumé it should not be hard to get other, highly desirable and reputable C++ jobs. But the fact of the matter is: Who works at think-cell, stays at think-cell. In more than ten years, I have seen less than a handful of developers leaving from a permanent position at think-cell. It took me a while to realize that there is no better job for me in the world than my current position, but at some point I just stopped looking for other jobs. Of course this means that you get to know your colleagues quite well. It does not mean that we are all big family, spending all our work and spare time together. Everybody has their private lifes, many have family. Some share similar interests and others don't. But it does mean that when I get to work, there is not a single person I try to avoid. Some are closer to me than others, but everybody is open-minded, approachable, and ready to help. They come as they are, and they treat each other with respect. It is a pleasure to meet them every day.

Desventajas

No formal career opportunities, since there is no middle management. If you think about it, the absence of the latter is actually a plus... ;) Very good self-organizational skills are required (for the same reason: you are your own middle-manager almost from day one).

Consejos para la Dirección

You are brilliant in coding but your actual core competence is building a team that lasts. Please keep doing so!

Ventajas

There is time to do things the right way, rather than "good enough for now". Single, long-lived desktop product. Good feedback from users via customer support and automated error reporting. No meetings: information is shared one-on-one or in small spontaneous groups. Real offices (not cubicles) with two or three devs in each. Some devs work part-time.

Desventajas

Code review is mostly done by technical lead so there's not much chance to develop that skill. Technical lead loses his temper and shouts at people - feedback is usually of a high quality but sometimes devolves into disrespectful shouting. This is not a "heated conversation" between equals but a manager shouting at his employees, and it is harmful to the quality of work and learning because it makes people nervous... rather than open.

Consejos para la Dirección

Get your temper under control and talk to others with respect so that they can be open with you and learn from you.

Ventajas

- The owners are really good at their jobs and it means the company is on the right track. - The hierarchy is flat so there are no middle management issues. The owners can directly see your contribution and improvement. - You have time to figure out the best solution and write elegant code. - The colleagues are really smart and friendly. - The company pays one of the best salaries in Germany to top... developers. - The company hosts many technical events and great company dinners/parties.

Desventajas

The hiring process could be very difficult for some people including myself. I think it is normal for a successful small company because everybody counts. But the owners really want to make more successful hires. I was with telecommunication background and not very experienced in c++11 when I was on board but the CTO made a very good plan for me and the tasks are achievable. You can make some errors but you need to... improve fast. You will have more space once you have proven yourself.

Ventajas

Great team with exceptional colleagues who are a pleasure to work with. Very friendly atmosphere. We do a lot of things together outside of work. Going out for dinner, the movies or doing sports together. think-cell is very family friendly. They have always been super accommodating and flexible when I needed to change my working hours due to my partner's work and our growing family. The product is super... successful and very well liked among our clients, which feels great. That results in an extremely competitive salary and very attractive working hours. Work at think-cell is challenging in a good way. Standards are high and so is our software quality, but we always get the time we need to do things the right way. We work mostly independently on many different kinds of problems. There is no code ownership in the traditional sense and you can expect to work on very different kinds of problems and on different parts of the product. Everyone is responsible for the entire product and all suggestions for improvement are welcome and will be listened to.

Desventajas

think-cell is not a good fit if you are not sufficiently self-organised to work on problems that are so large that you have to split them into manageable pieces. think-cell is a great place to learn but new employees have to be very good in problem solving and structured, logical thinking already. It is not a place where you can grow into the role of a Software engineer.

Ventajas

- Nice working environment - No hard deadlines - The boss decides, but there's room for discussion and personal opinions. No irrational decisions imposed from above: you can solve problems in the way you see most fit, as long as you can convince the boss with your arguments. - Focus is on the product: design and development. Very little bureaucracy, and you don't have to deal with bipolar customers. - Flexible... work hours (in the sense that they adapt to the worker, not to the company) - Flexible holiday policy (I've never seen a holiday request being denied) - Very good pay - Family friendly environment (people sometimes bring their dogs, or their children) - Good programming practices, no monster legacy code that nobody can touch. - Almost flat hierarchy - No dress code - I wouldn't be too scared if this review wasn't anonymous (in fact, the company is so small they can probably guess who I am from the information I'm giving)

Desventajas

- Work is mostly individual: there are communication and discussion, but you're at your desk for most of the time. If you're a lover of teamwork, this job is not for you. - Lack of explicit information spreading, in general. You need to look into the logs, if you want to know who's doing what, and you often need to ask other people about high-level design decisions, due to the lack of high level documentation. This... isn't as terrible as it may sound, because the company is small, and the boss has an overview of the whole product, but it could probably be better. - It's important to be able to deal with the boss. Even though he does his best, not everybody is compatible with his character. - Working from home is not an option. It is allowed, but only in exceptional cases. - Workplace is in the center of Berlin. Either you live far away (>30' on public means), or rents are expensive. They pay you enough that you're able to comfortably live in the center, though. - Almost flat hierarchy (no room for career advancement)

Consejos para la Dirección

It wouldn't hurt to have a written high-level system design to give to the new entries.

Ventajas

The salary is very competitive and the office is very modern and centrally located. No pressure about working hours and the highest standard of code quality. All of the colleagues are very intelligent and driven.

Desventajas

After passing a very selective interview they didn't make it clear that only a few people can make it past the trial period. I had to face a relocation and found myself without a job after a few months. In these few months I could hear the CTO shouting in every room pretty much every day. There is no margin for errors and every choice that is not aligned with the standards set by the CTO can be met with a nervous... outbreak, and this affects the ability to learn from your errors, and can damage your professional self-esteem. The prospect of a great salary is not worth the damage of the (unexpectedly extended) recruiting process.

Ventajas

There are many pros, the most important ones: - An interesting product to work on. As a developer, I get to work in different areas from crafting algorithms to user interface design. - Company is run by computer scientists, so the Management understands what it takes to create good software. - When working on a task, you are given time to refactor and cleanup code where necessary. Code quality is more important... than "time to market". - The company a has solid customer base, and is financially independent. - Developers may participate in conferences, and user groups on behalf of the company. - Nice colleagues, mostly flat hierarchies. - Last but not least: a very high salary.

Desventajas

- The recruiting process is hard, see the reviews by job candidates. - Our CTO is a very intelligent guy and a fast thinker. The downside is that sometimes he gets annoyed when people don't grasp his ideas fast enough. - Having to work on Windows.

Ventajas

Advanced C++ (11, 14 etc). Top software practices. High-end hardware. Very smart coworkers. Outstanding salary. Nice office in the center of Berlin. Free fruits/drinks/bakery. Relocation package (company apartment). Etc.

Desventajas

Number of vacation days is sufficient but could be higher. Office is closed on weekends (not really important, I just like to work on Saturdays from time to time).

Consejos para la Dirección

I think that the management does almost everything right - the company is very stable financially. Just continue doing what you do.