- Unexpected Job Insecurity: bottom-out approach and you might lose your job overnight despite good performance reviews (many colleagues were asked to leave suddenly during my time there), CEO asked you to pack your bags if you're not up for the rollercoaster ride.
- Management Mayhem: quarterly internal performance reviews (changed to biannual later) that felt more like a chore than a constructive exercise. Employees were being forced to evaluate their peers. I was part of the Front End team but somehow ended up under the supervision of a Back End manager, who seemed clueless about my contributions. Promotions felt like a distant dream as reporting managers shuffled around like a deck of cards.
- 24/7 Work Culture: Colleagues from different time zones, and you are expected to attend meetings or work at night. Weekends or PH are expected to work sometimes.
- Some of the employee benefits took a hit when the company hit financial turbulence. Perks were put on hold.
- Chinese company: Almost ALL documents were still in Chinese, making simple tasks unnecessarily complicated.
- LOC System: an internal metric that tracked every line of code, Jira ticket, and code review comment, turning engineering into a numbers game rather than a measure of true innovation and problem-solving.
