Great mission and technology stifled by inefficiencies and mismanagement
Pros
* Great mission and technology: the Tor network and Tor Browser is clearly the most operational and maintained anonymity network and browser, respectively, out there. It fights for internet freedom, net neutrality, and anti-surveillance. You meet journalists where this technology has literally saved someone's life, or hear stories about people in China accessing non-filtered news. * Highly talented and motivated colleagues: the employees at Tor and the contributing community are uncommonly talented and unified in their mission. There are employees who have been there 7-10 years and have a solid understanding of the system and will mentor new hires; long-standing members of the community who 5+ years consistently contribute of solid work and welcome new members. * Remote-friendly and decentralized: you can work flexible hours from anywhere in the world, as long as you get your work done. The company meetings and meetups switch locations every time, so that they engage with different communities and make it convenient for all their international employees.
Cons
* Unfair treatment: many are driven by mission to the point where they willing to tolerate a lot, which they need to do. Until recently, there were people who were always on renewing 3-month contracts, giving them the feeling that they can be fired anytime. There was a support engineer who didn't get paid for months of work and had to get back pay. * Entangled relationships: there have been a lot of people who have dated each other openly before, then dating other co-workers. Sexual abuse scandals, and to a lesser degree, social entanglement, often causes people to pick sides and makes it difficult to maintain a professional environment. * Values over productivity: there are some employees that refuse to use voice or video, causing all meetings to be through internet relay chat. Slack isn't even used, because the company does not like having a company know what is being said. While I understand that this anonymity tool needs more cover, it was incredibly frustrating to coordinate with others though essentially an AIM chat room.
