FULL DISCLOSURE - My name is Edward, I was one of the earliest team members at DigitalOcean and lead the customer success organization there in the early days.
I have not been at the company for 3+ years so want to make crystal clear I don’t know “intimately” what’s going on at the organization. With that said, I still know enough about the business to say the following.
Been reading about developers, business owners, etc worrying about your application stability or fearing the need to migrate to another infrastructure, all warrented feelings. I want to share some thoughts as an (old)insider.
DIGITALOCEAN IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE. You don’t make $200M+ in ARR and all of a sudden shutdown. Especially as a company who has always prioritized the BEST product experience. Prioritized the BEST customer experience. If you’ve been a customer of DO, you know they go above and beyond you. DigitalOcean’s offering is still by far the most developer-friendly and delightful infrastructure experience on the market.
One of my biggest frustrations when I worked there was the lack of advanced features offered for scaling applications, I'm shockingly surprised that in the past few years they quickly launched Kubernetes, Database as a service, and Object Storage, granted all table stake stuff that AWS already has, but nevertheless has made DigitalOcean a very mature product. I'm low-key annoyed they didn't launch this when customers were yelling at me as the customer success point person, begging for all these features...anyways good for those that are customers today :)
As the co-founder mentioned above, the business has gone through several CEO changes with the purpose of preparing for an even grander expansion. So far hasn't worked as planned. When leadership changes, rockiness always occurs, and it’s up to the next CEO to steer the ship. I don't know the new CEO and have no clue if he's any good, but I wish him good luck. Layoffs happen when businesses are tanking, but they also happen when a business is preparing for another launch at greatness. I'm truly empathetic to those that were laid off today, as a fellow DO-Shark that can't feel good. Even though you are likely folks I've never met, my thought are with you.
If you are a developer, DigitalOcean will always be a place for you to incubate, innovate, and grow your business. I'm confident of that.
If it helps you I chose the title of my actual post to appeal to my family members who read my blog and are looking to know what I'm doing. The "editorialised" title is for the more targeted readers on HN.
Hi thanks for the question. Overseas was emphasized cause developers in other countries tend to be cheaper in cost. I found that developers in U.S average around $40-$60/hr while developers overseas can range from $10-$20/hr. This is based purely on my experience on oDesk.com. Hope that answers your question!
I have not been at the company for 3+ years so want to make crystal clear I don’t know “intimately” what’s going on at the organization. With that said, I still know enough about the business to say the following.
Been reading about developers, business owners, etc worrying about your application stability or fearing the need to migrate to another infrastructure, all warrented feelings. I want to share some thoughts as an (old)insider.
DIGITALOCEAN IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE. You don’t make $200M+ in ARR and all of a sudden shutdown. Especially as a company who has always prioritized the BEST product experience. Prioritized the BEST customer experience. If you’ve been a customer of DO, you know they go above and beyond you. DigitalOcean’s offering is still by far the most developer-friendly and delightful infrastructure experience on the market.
One of my biggest frustrations when I worked there was the lack of advanced features offered for scaling applications, I'm shockingly surprised that in the past few years they quickly launched Kubernetes, Database as a service, and Object Storage, granted all table stake stuff that AWS already has, but nevertheless has made DigitalOcean a very mature product. I'm low-key annoyed they didn't launch this when customers were yelling at me as the customer success point person, begging for all these features...anyways good for those that are customers today :)
As the co-founder mentioned above, the business has gone through several CEO changes with the purpose of preparing for an even grander expansion. So far hasn't worked as planned. When leadership changes, rockiness always occurs, and it’s up to the next CEO to steer the ship. I don't know the new CEO and have no clue if he's any good, but I wish him good luck. Layoffs happen when businesses are tanking, but they also happen when a business is preparing for another launch at greatness. I'm truly empathetic to those that were laid off today, as a fellow DO-Shark that can't feel good. Even though you are likely folks I've never met, my thought are with you.
If you are a developer, DigitalOcean will always be a place for you to incubate, innovate, and grow your business. I'm confident of that.