Our Culture
At Red Planet Labs, we care a lot about the kind of company we are building. To that end, here are the principles and values that guide us:
We believe talent is evenly distributed, but there are extra barriers for marginalized groups. We care about creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.
We are a fully distributed team because we believe this is the best way to run a software development team. Plus, it gives us access to the most talented people regardless of where they reside.
Overworking is dangerous, and regular breaks are necessary for the best results. We eliminate the social anxiety of “unlimited” vacation policies by instead having a mandatory vacation policy.
We believe compensation should be fair and flexible. All employees choose what balance of salary and equity is right for them, and salary ranges for each position are public within the company.
We believe in evaluating people for their actual skills, not for their skills at interviewing. We rely on open source, side projects, and take-home projects to evaluate technical ability. Whiteboard coding and brain teasers are too far removed from the actual work of being a programmer.
We reason from first principles even if our conclusions contradict common knowledge. When you're pioneering something new, you're inherently going against the grain and must be willing to challenge what's currently accepted.
We have a strict no-assholes policy. Life's too short to have anything but a fun work environment full of people that inspire you.
We are inspired to have a positive and lasting impact on the world.
We are allergic to meetings and prefer to just get things done. Processes are tools, not religion, and we are always ready to alter a process when our needs change.
We believe having flexibility in when you work is essential. Except for a few fixed meetings like daily standups, 85% of work hours at RPL are self-managed.
We don't value our own ideas over those of our teammates.
We value direct communication, even when it might be uncomfortable, because we care about making the company and products as great as they can be. We are respectful of each other, and we believe communication is everyone’s job.