Pros
TrueCar is a fun, growing company with a great mission that you can get behind (make car buying easier and more transparent for everyone). We have fancy offices with unbelievable ocean views. We have fantastic benefits. And despite growing up, we still occasionally behave like a startup and host margarita-fueled happy hours right inside the office. The HR team at TrueCar is among the best I've ever encountered. They know your name, they are responsive to your requests, and they actively seek out employee feedback. They are a genuinely top-notch team and I really appreciate that they don't sit still. They are constantly testing out new ways to improve life at the company (new benefits, free lunches, cool parties, fun happy hours, process improvements, etc). Overall, TrueCar is a great place to work but you need to understand that we are a company in the midst of a major transformation. As I write this in early 2014, I'd say that TrueCar is too mature for those seeking a hardcore startup experience and too fast-paced for those seeking a cushy nine-to-five. But if you are looking for something special in between - a place where your contributions still very much matter and where you can be super proud of the progress that your company is bringing to the world - then I’d heartily encourage you to apply. There’s plenty of ocean view for everyone.
Cons
- The level of bureaucracy is steadily increasing as we add more staff. This is an inevitable part of growing up but may frustrate you if you're seeking an authentic startup experience. - There is still little to no work/life balance and the expectation is that you will be available at virtually any time. If you check your email at 11pm on a weeknight or at any point on a weekend, you're almost guaranteed to have a few messages waiting for your response. This is slowly getting better as the company matures but now there is some tension between the teams that are still working crazy hours and those that have managed to relax the pace. Overall, you need to be prepared to WORK if you join TrueCar. - The organizational structure changes drastically every January and is marked by a 3-month long period where nobody knows who is responsible for what. Momentum and accountability vanish until the dust finally settles in March/April. You'll get used to it. - The performance review process is long and tedious and lacks accountability. We try to use an orderly SMART goals-based process but SMART goals work best for stable, consistent, slow-moving companies. TrueCar changes direction quickly and frequently, so there’s always plenty of wiggle room for those in charge to turn the process into a popularity contest. To the HR team’s credit, they have been listening to employee feedback and have been making changes (manager reviews were added in 2013, for instance, and we are now allowed to edit our SMART goals midway through the cycle). I’d like to see a peer-review component added because I think that it will close the loop and make the possibility of a popularity contest less likely.
