Toxic NYC culture, poor management, low salaries. But great mission!
Pros
1) Andela has a great mission. They're making a positive impact on the world, they're transforming lives, and they're getting a lot of recognition and VC backing for it. If what you care about above all is working for a mission-driven startup, then Andela is one of your best bets. They are one of "New York's hottest startups" and rightfully so. 2) Great colleagues. Really smart and driven people from different walks of life, and all are united by a shared belief in Andela's mission. 3) The developers in Africa. They are very talented individuals, and it's cool to interact with them and see them grow. 4) The work is actually interesting and fast-paced.
Cons
1) *Terrible salaries* Despite their substantial VC funding, they intentionally pay their employees way below market. How do they justify low salaries and get away with it? Because you get to contribute towards a great mission and have a warm fuzzy feeling while you do it. I'm all for working at a mission-driven company - their mission should be the biggest reason why you join Andela. But a warm fuzzy feeling only gets you so far when you know you're being paid 25%-40% below market. 2) *Poor management* The other non-so-happy reviews about leadership are accurate. Management is very much out of touch with employees, especially in the NYC office. They don't listen to their own people, they don't learn from past mistakes, and they're more focused on impressing investors than solving bigger internal problems. Also, they are quite inexperienced, they place high value on politics, and they often make decisions behind closed doors. 3) *Toxic culture* Little visibility into management decisions, fratty clique culture in NYC office, and often very little trust between management and employees. Also, they champion the idea of "building distributed teams" to their customers, but absolutely fail to understand or apply it internally. They treat distributed employees like second-class citizens and view their non-NYC offices as satellite offices. The indentured servant-esque model is pretty weird. 4) *Career growth and development* They haven't really invested into figuring out how to develop their employees to help them build new skills or identify career new career paths. They care more about hitting their numbers for the month.