Pros
My colleagues were great - Datadog attracts quality talent and culture fit amongst ICs.
Datadog's market fit is top tier and customers are generally satisfied with the product offerings. The internal sales and product training are very good.
Lunch served Mon, Wed, Fri in office and quarterly company outings.
Benefits are competitive and ESPP is generous.
Cons
Compensation and growth in the Customer Success vertical are totally out of whack. Your KPI and bonus structure is capped which incentivizes a culture of laziness and leads reps to do the bare minimum to get to 100%. Pay discrepancies amongst co-workers with the same title and less experience are jarring.
While KPIs are attainable, the total compensation is drastically below market average for similar roles. It's important to note that the title of Customer Success doesn't encapsulate your actual role here - you are expected to act as the Account Manager (heavy sales focus), lead enablement, handle escalations, and broker the relationship between legal, engineering, support, and Product Managers.
The workload could be considered overwhelming to some with managing the volume of accounts (~150 accounts / rep). The platform is also quite extensive (40+ products) requiring a lot of training. It will take ~6-12 months for you to feel confident.
There is a perception of favoritism within leadership and ICs, which ultimately affects floor morale and advancement opportunities. Quarterly bonuses are subjective to your manager with a 50/50 split on KPIs and "Communication". When concerns are raised about any of this, you feel ostracized for speaking up and makes you feel like like they only want "Yes" people who just follow leadership blindly.
Promotions are incredibly challenging to obtain - often times empty promises are given and then pushed off another 6mo. for your next performance review cycle. The CSA and CSM career pathing has been mapped out as a 4 year process, which is concerning to anyone who is looking to advance their career and income. This has lead to a substantial turnover rate amongst top performing reps.
If you've made it this far, my advice: Only consider this role if you are looking to break into tech or looking for a resume builder at a well established company. If you are sales orientated and/or consider yourself a high performer, look elsewhere because compensation and recognition will leave you feeling unfulfilled.
