Pros
-As everyone has mentioned, the colleagues at Ashoka are generally incredible. Ashoka employs globally minded and entrepreneurial people who I have learned a lot from. Almost everyone comes with good intentions and is open to collaboration. -Good amount of flexibility with taking vacation (once accrued) and working remotely. Opportunities to travel depending on your role. -International reach of the organization means you get to interact with colleagues worldwide. Between co-workers, fellows, partners, etc., it's a great network to have. -The work is still at its core rewarding and inspiring. It can be frustrating knowing we can do so much more, but at the same time an exciting challenge to figure out how to help the organization achieve this. -Depending on your role/team, you will likely have a good level of responsibility to take on leadership opportunities, lead projects, and shape your own role to some degree. All team members, irregardless of seniority, are encourage to innovate. Overall a great learning opportunity. I've greatly benefited from working at Ashoka and have built meaningful relationships here.
Cons
-The pay is too low to make Ashoka a career unless you have support from a spouse/family. Way too hard to save enough money long term. -The CEO is essentially an autocrat who holds antiquated views despite being an entrepreneur who preaches how the world relies on adaptation and being fluid. You will find yourself frustrated with parts of Ashoka that cannot change because of him, despite being obviously broken and everyone else noticing it. If it is any consolation, you will share this frustration with mostly everyone else who works here. If you can keep your work in a bubble away from him, you'll be better off. -There are ways to grow and move to new roles, though you certainly need to be very proactive to take ownership of your own growth path and find opportunities to climb the ladder, so to speak. Some teams are great at supporting professional development and investing in you, while other teams need work. Formal promotion wise, it can hard since the CEO is part of these decisions (see point 2). -You need to be comfortable working with ambiguity and uncertainty. This leaves space to be creative, but the general lack of organizational direction is usually more stifling.