Compare Facebook vs Change.org BETA

Pros

It's extremely refreshing to work somewhere with an engineering team that really cares about what they work on and the values of the company. Every Thursday on the Change.org all team call we hear... from campaigners in countries around the world about the impact that Change.org petitions have had, and I always find it hard to imagine that there are any other tech companies out there where your work has such a broad impact. This focus on impact and social change has resulted in a team with a broad set of interests, which is great in itself, but also has many important secondary effects. Most people in the company have passions outside of work, and are supported by their coworkers and managers to pursue these interests, resulting in great work life balance. People work hard at Change.org not because their managers make them, but because they care about the mission and their team and want to see it succeed without compromising their personal time. Another secondary impact of this is that people value independent ideas and contributions that can help the company outside the scope of their day-to-day work. I've taken on lots of projects outside of my job description to improve the developer experience at the company, and not only have these projects been supported, they've led me to a role working more directly on the aspects of engineering that I really care about.

Cons

There are many fundamental challenges to having a tech company that works on social change, which might just come down to the tension between capitalism and justice. It's an uphill battle to use... technology to create social change, and we've often had to readjust our strategy due to changes in the market.

Advice to Management

Keep supporting your employees' broad interests—it makes for a rich and delightful team that's great to work with.