Pros
- Good to learn a lot of tech stacks, because Tokopedia provide self-managed platforms for infrastructure (instance provisioning, deployment, etc) which "force" us to understand how those things works - Huge traffic for some modules is a good challenge. We will learn a lot on how to design a scalable services. - Flexible working hours (start 7AM-10AM; end 4PM-7PM; 12-1PM lunch break) - Fully remote works during Covid (hopefully still fully remote after covid, because before covid, the remote-leave policy sucks -- only allowed 2 remote per months and for engineers-related only) - Some individual contributors are really nice and knowledgeable and willing to help you. They will be a good mentor for you if you meet them (be wary of the cons)
Cons
- Managers and above are ignorant. They don't understand their own module. Every time we encountered an issue, they will ask template questions without giving solutions. For example: "What happened?", "Why we don't catch it in staging?", "How do we prevent this in the future?", etc. - Monthly event with unrealistic target. The managers always push to aim for higher target in preparation (e.g. 5x BAU traffic). Even though we have event traffic data for up-to 1 year, they still being paranoid on the target. - If you were on oncall shift, you will be paid with nothing. If you are a PIC for load test, you will be paid 1-day dispensation leave. But keep in mind that your task will not be decreased (depends on your lead and PM, but most of the time, we are still going fast with features) - Compared to other companies in Indonesia, salary relatively lower for the same titles. - Tokopedia performance review policy force us to "sacrifice" people to get "below expectation" grade. So if you have 10 high-achievers members, good luck! 1-2 of you must be under-performed. - Low standard on interviews and probation for individual contributors (architect level and above). We hired a lot of technical architects but very little who meet our expectation. Most of them only create meetings and in the end asking the squad leads or principal engineers to do the job. - Some engineers are lazy to read and don't know how to text efficiently (e.g. "hello", "hi", "Can I ask a question" without further context). They always send annoying question in DM and tagging you in public channels for their exposure. - Managers level or above can be promoted without real contribution. In contrast, it's really hard to get promoted for people below manager level.
