Can be extremely difficult during the first 2 months due to vast & never-ending incoming information and all the time changing internal processes. Hard to be on top of things and it consumes a vast portion of one's time to follow everyday updates.
Too many employees in Tallinn's office and open space format means 0 privacy and nonstop noise & distractions which makes very hard to concentrate on tasks where you need to be 100% attentive. Private rooms are scarce and there is ongoing fight for them. It also means, if one person comes to office sick, he/she infects 50 sitting around him.
Due to majority of people working in shifts, it attracts younger crowd and company culture is similar to the high school environment (with everything what follows that). If you are bit more mature than that, it can make you feel uncomfortable at times. Soft bullying and passive aggressive attitude are rampant here.
Some teams have little to 0 connection with overall vibe of TransferWise and its cultural values and it can feel sometimes that they are totally independent with their own micro-climate which nobody oversees.
Very low salaries, only justified with the position of HQ office in Estonia. 99% of TW clients are international, so the level of salaries should be on par with an average EUROPEAN levels of salaries for these positions. Yet, they only take Estonian salaries as benchmarks.
Working purely "for mission" can only be used to influence young person's mind, but in fact is just a trick. They build up a good reputation around them, so people can compromise to accept worse offers. Stock options are intangible and other perks are not going to pay off your mortgage and other commitments in the end of the month. Its a shame, as a top company in Estonia they could do a bit more and give back to their community to help their own people to not live in a never-ending poverty, as they have all power and resources to do so.
And last thing, as many ex and current employees hold shares in TW, its also under their interest to retain very good image of the company, which explains such a small portion of really honest reviews published here. The reality of working there is not so shiny and fluffy as you might be thinking then reading majority of the reviews. If you want to know how people really feel in fastly grown fin tech ups in Estonia, read reviews about Monese, because very many things apply to TW as well (hint - poor leadership, lack of experience for people in managing roles, communication in chats and no following up on ideas/projects and so on...).
