CareerCup

I am a fresh graduate working in GoodNotes, which I think its a very good start-up company that every good engineer should know. I want to share some of my experience working there, and why I think it is a hidden gem.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary package is quite competitive in general. It could be ranging from $USD6000-12000/mo, and with stock options, depending on work experience, expertise, interview performance, etc. As HK/Europe-based company, it is very competitive with work life balance.

There is an unlimited budget for work equipment. Even as a fresh graduate, I am given a MacBook Pro 16 inch (64GB RAM, 1TB SSD), iPad Pro w Apple Pencil, Noise cancelling headphone, 49 inch curved monitor and more...

On top of that, we are each given $USD3500 for work from home equipment every 2 year which can be used for buying home office chair, standing desk, etc. Gym allowances and personal learning budget are also given on a monthly basis.

Company Culture

GoodNotes is result and target-driven. We have a 6-week cycle and for each cycle, each of us have a dedicated objective key result (OKR). We will do brainstorming together and think about what to achieve during the cycle. Each engineer owns certain tasks and I enjoy a great deal of product ownership.

One of the greatest learning is the RAPID decision making. We value asynchronous communication and whenever we have a product/engineering decision to be made. We write down our thoughts on a document, and the decision maker can make a non-biased decision based on the written comments.

We are very tech-driven. We have invested in a lof of technology assets. If you have used GoodNotes, it is not merely a simple mobile application, but it involved a lot of advanced technologies, like CRDT, CQRS, in-house machine learning models, etc

After every cycle, we will have a demo day session which everyone from each functional team will share their cycle, so not only do I learn software development skills, I also can hear the sharing from people working in machine learning, design, backend, marketing etc.

Open-minded and respectful. People respect each other's time. Also, work life balance is emphasised and no one force us to work over time.

Relocation

GoodNotes has recently expanded to Europe from Hong Kong. I was given a chance to relocate from Hong Kong to London, which is a completely new experience for me. As a student from Asia, it is an eye-opening journey for me to explore the tech scene in Europe. Of course, the company paid for all the trip expenses, like short-term rents, transportation and so on...

RIght now, we are hiring engineers and product designers rapidly around the globe, and remote working is also an option. You guys should not miss out the chance! I am happy to give you more information if you are interested. You can contact me by grayson@goodnotesapp.com