Pros
-- I moved to LA from SF to take a job at Snap and honestly dreaded the location. But I learned that LA gets a bad rap in the smaller, colder, pricier SF. Between better weather, broader cultural and social opportunities (not everyone works in tech), and generally more affordable cost of living, I love it and don't imagine I'll move back up. Sure, LA traffic is bad, but that matters much, much less if you live in Santa Monica, where the main offices are located. For context, the office, and I believe most employees, are based in Santa Monica / Venice.
-- Smart, hardworking employees. Many from SF companies. Plus some with entertainment backgrounds thanks to Snap's content efforts, "Discover."
-- Huge opportunity for the business and product. Headlines aside, there are only a few apps in the world that touch as many people per day as Snapchat.
-- Innovation. Snap invented or popularized some of the biggest new ideas in consumer tech: beyond Stories, also ephemeral messaging ("talking with pictures"), augmented reality, social maps, vertical video, mobile content ("Discover") etc. Not a boring product or business to work on.
Cons
-- Morale righly suffered due to layoffs and decline in metrics and share price last year. I think most employees would say that feels behind us.
-- History of hiring execs w/ irrelevant background or lacking experience. That said, I think the entire management team has shifted in the past year, w/ more experienced execs now calling shots.
