On July 5th I started at GitLab. They are an entirely remote company with an amazing product and really fascinating culture.
One of the many things I am very excited about is that as much as possible is public info. For instance, you can see their entire company handbook online. Most of the consumers of such a document are team members, but it was able to give me a great idea on what exactly I should expect and how things work around GitLab. I really appreciated this as it gave me a very detailed look at the company, their values, and more! That lets candidates decide for themselves if the company and culture are up to their expectations. Isn’t that awesome? Hell, they even let anyone make a merge request to suggest updates, even people who do not work for GitLab!
The experience of joining the team at GitLab has been very unique. On my first day, I just got online and logged into all of the things. That’s all. I didn’t have to go anywhere for training or to any kind of office. Everything is done via the internet. It is definitely a different experience as you really have to seek out what you should be doing. You get an onboarding issue that gives you some tasks that must be done, but as for actually getting into things, you just have to jump right in!
I do of course have a few concerns. I find that I am motivated to seek out work, and as such I think I will be fine on that front. However, I do have a battle with imposter syndrome that could very easily act out when working remote. Everyone I’ve met so far has been very communicative and helpful, so I expect that I will be able to get valuable feedback about progress and expectations Additionally, I am apprehensive of my work being so public. This was a question they raised during my interviews and phone screens, “How do you feel about your work being so public?”. I think it will be OK, of course, but it obviously creates a bit of stress knowing that anyone in the community can see what I’m doing and comment on it. At the same time, that is a beautiful thing that can give me invaluable feedback and knowledge. I look forward to learning and growing with that feedback.
In the end, I realize I’ve only worked here a few days, but so far it is amazing. If you too are interested in working remotely for GitLab, visit the jobs page and see if any of the jobs tickles your fancy!