DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean Company Culture & Values
Frequently Asked Questions
The culture at DigitalOcean is described as fast-paced, high performing and high ownership, with a deep care for customers and community. In the 2025 employee survey, 83% of employees find meaning in their work. This passion creates a virutious flywheel of innovation and enjoyment. 87% of employees reported they have the opportunity to do challenging work that helps to grow their careers. This, paired with a strong culture of values-based recognition and connection programs such as the local meetup program, as proof that culture is visible day-to-day, even at a global scale.
DigitalOcean reported at-benchmark engagement scores and a high eNPS in 2025, demonstrating strong cultural alignment, long-term employee loyalty, and values that extend beyond marketing.
Employees also highlight open and respectful communication styles and a workplace that feels personal rather than transactional. Additional signals include being named as a best place to work in 2025 by US News and World Report and Built In coverage highlighting DigitalOcean as a top company to work for in Boston, Austin, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Hyderabad.
While some employees previously raised concerns about culture consistency after hiring new leadership in 2024, high engagement scores have demonstrated a welcomed cultural shift that has been paired with extraordinary company growth.
Collaboration at DigitalOcean is described as cross-functional, open, agile, and supportive with employees pointing to shared tools like Slack, Jira, Confluence, and the Google Suite, as well as operational rhythms such as all hands and business reviews, as proof that collaboration is a part of daily work in its distributed environment.
DigitalOcean uses Slack to communicate quickly, ask questions and get answers, send important company information, and more. The vision is to harness the full potential of Slack as a dynamic communication and collaboration platform that enhances productivity, offers accessible information, and builds a strong, connected community for its global employee base.
Document Culture is a major way Digital Ocean communicates, collaborates, and make decisions in its day-to-day work.
Employee recognition at DigitalOcean happens through global and functional all hands meetings, Slack channels, structured recognition programs tied to company values and outcomes, monetary awards like spot bonuses and service anniversary awards. Employees also highlight small moments such as managers acknowledging work in team meetings and cross-department recognition that makes contributions visible beyond immediate teams as proof that recognition feels genuine and core to the culture at DigitalOcean.
DigitalOcean reported that 84% of employees in 2025 shared that if they do great work, they know it will be recognized. The majority of employees have been recognized for work tied to outcomes on the company's AwardCo platform since its launch in October 2025, demonstrating consistent appreciate for contributions, clear visibility of employee impact, and recognition tied to results.
Leadership reinforces recognition by funding structured programs, spotlighting employees publicly, and weaving recognition into performance and feedback cycles. Additional signals include employee survey comments citing visibility of recognition tied to meaningful work.
While some employees previously raised concerns about recognition being inconsistent, leadership introduced a global reward and recognition platform in 2025 and manager training, which reassures employees that their work is valued.
Our values include:
- We think big, bold, and scrappy. We are not afraid to disrupt the status quo, challenge conventional thinking, and push the boundaries to think 10x.
- We operate with a bias to action. We move quickly, adapt to change, and seize opportunities with urgency. Speed and progress are more important than perfection.
- We embrace a growth mindset, empowering Sharks to learn, evolve, and excel. As leaders, we create a safe environment for Sharks to be curious, think big, move fast, and learn quickly.
- Our customers and community are at the HEART of everything we DO. We are obsessed with understanding their needs, anticipating their challenges, and building great tech for them. Our customers’ love creates a virtuous cycle that amplifies love for what we DO.
- We act like owners by demonstrating a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.
- Our community of builders and dreamers is at the core of everything we DO. Their passion, expertise, and innovation fuel the growth and evolution of our platform.
- Customers love us for our simplicity and ease of use. We innovate to WOW our customers by making cloud application development for AI and ML-centric applications easy on DO.
