[skrebbel]

Hijacking the thread a bit, but are there any published negative experiences about working at Basecamp? Everything I know about Basecamp's culture comes from their owners - obviously it is in their interest to be very enthousiastic about it, especially since their product supports a company with their culture particularly well.

There must be downsides. Right? Are there any? For real people at Basecamp?

[nickbauman]

I have a friend who's close to DHH. He claims that Basecamp has a very very very selective recruiting process. To the point where finding talent is extremely difficult. I suspect their litmus for excellence is the real reason their seemingly "guardrail-free culture" works as well as it does, not the other way around.

[johne20]

Is there any insight publicly available regarding their hiring processes? I am interested in successful small software companies practices in particular, not google/facebook/et al, scale.

[briandear]

Given their retention rates, I'm pretty sure they're doing well in "reality." I don't have data handy, but last time I heard about it, they have very low attrition.

[dasmoth]

Here’s one which isn’t exactly negative (and note that it’s hosted on their blog...) but does have an example of an employee running up against some limits. Found it pretty thought-provoking when originally published:

https://m.signalvnoise.com/to-smile-again-ae0ba9f2198c

[hitekker]

I liked parts of the article but this passage really struck me as cultish:

> He [the founder] was right. He was absolutely right. In hindsight, this was something I [the employee] should have thought to talk to him about from the start. But it never occurred to me, and David’s insistence that we not teach the seminars was like a bucket of ice water over my head. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. The metaphorical rug had been pulled out from under me.

> I don’t fault David at all, and I even agree that he was right to do what he did. But at the time I felt immensely betrayed. Capistrano was supposed to be my baby! Why, then, had I just discovered a limit beyond which I was not allowed to take it?

You had a disagreement with your boss and you eventually came round to his position... but it's written like a paean to Basecamp's founder.

I get that the author could totally feel this way... I still would have asked for him to tone it down a notch, lest people think the company was forcing an apology.