Pros
I somehow completely missed Drivemode while I was living in Tokyo until a recruiter reached out to me and recommended it. From their website alone, I could see the company had an amazing culture. Drivemode is a very fascinating fusion of Japanese and Silicon Valley culture. It was founded by a Japanese entrepreneur, who had lived in the Valley long enough to identify the best aspects of SV culture to apply to the company, and this culture permeates the entire company to this day. Drivemode was by far the best company I've ever worked at in Japan. It is literally a San Francisco tech company in Tokyo. They keep a playful, yet professional atmosphere, and it is a lot of fun to be in the office. In terms of engineering, they appreciate giving the engineers the control they need to build the best products that they can. They work in hand in hand with the product team, and the combination works really well. For its size, it also offers a lot of amazing perks: * Company-wide lunches every Friday, paid for by the company * Training budgets for training and Japanese language lessons * Drive days to test out the products and have a picnic (When the pandemic allows it) * Team dinners at restaurants (When the pandemic allows it) * Offsite visits to the SV office (When the pandemic allows it)
Cons
The biggest challenge facing Drivemode is its acquisition by Honda. With the new responsibilities placed on the company by Honda, there are certainly some growing pains. The acquisition has made the leadership much more busy, which has put more of a need of filling out more management roles in the company to manage other aspects. It is definitely an interesting time to be joining Drivemode, but at the same time, a very exciting one.
