- Fear-driven, top-down culture: Decisions are dictated by the very top. Managers often invoke the CEO’s or their own boss’s name to pressure teams into rushing work, which creates a climate of fear and compliance rather than collaboration.
- “We before me” value is toxic in practice: This value is frequently used to silence individual concerns and push employees to sacrifice personal time for the company. It can feel less like teamwork and more like being guilt-tripped into compliance.
- Engineering quality is neglected: Tech debt is rarely prioritized. The focus is on shipping quickly and pleasing top leadership rather than building stable, maintainable systems.
- Artificial urgency culture: Overtime is the norm — leaving at 6 pm is uncommon. Managers frequently assign last-minute “urgent” tasks late on Fridays that must be completed before the weekend, even if they are minor or non-critical (e.g., adding an extra log line to a service, renaming a database column for consistency). Expect chaos on a daily basis.
- Promotion process lacks transparency: There are no clear rubrics or evaluation criteria. Promotions feel based on perception and relationships with managers rather than objective contributions, which can make career growth feel arbitrary.
- Low psychological safety: Many employees avoid challenging decisions or raising concerns for fear of being seen as “not aligned.”
