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Working at Netflix 2017

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Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#31

Post by jedberg »

linkregister wrote: post #22
drewg123 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think the Netflix turnover rate is high? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that I have not personally experienced it. I've been at Netflix for a little less than 2 years. We've had zero turnover in my immediate group (the team that runs the OS used on the OpenConnect Appliance), and very little turnover in adjacent teams. I experienced far more turnover at Google.

Thanks for replying. Those of us on the outside only have sensationalized news articles to go by, and journalists love to push the "Cutthroat Netflix Culture" narrative.

Those stories get clicks and sell ads, but they aren't really true.

Yes, it is easier to fire someone at Netflix than elsewhere, but it doesn't happen all that more often than anywhere else, and it's also easier to hire, promote and give raises to them. So it all balances out.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#32

Post by zerr »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #28
drewg123 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think the Netflix turnover rate is high? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that I have not personally experienced it. I've been at Netflix for a little less than 2 years. We've had zero turnover in my immediate group (the team that runs the OS used on the OpenConnect Appliance), and very little turnover in adjacent teams. I experienced far more turnover at Google.

Our TPM worked at Netflix for 2 years and she said that she personally saw about 20 people let go during her time.

I could understand this if interviews were broken (in a different way) at Netflix - is this the case? i.e. is it ridiculously easy to get a job there?

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#33

Post by blazespin »

fooey wrote: post #11

Netflix's culture deck is one of the most horrific things in the tech industry I've ever seen. It's so ruthlessly mercenary, I have a hard time understanding how why people put up with them.

Extremely high salaries. Lot better than amazon that pays people badly and is ruthlessly mercenary.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#34

Post by YCode »

bronlund wrote: post #20

Answer me this: Why does the interface suck so bad? How are pissing off 100 million subscribers good business? I apologize for not expanding my view with a detailed analysis, but damn. The update you guys promoted like half a year in advance made it even worse.

Hulu did the same thing (with their Xbox app at least) recently and it really got me thinking.

After a while I started to think maybe they aren't optimizing for what we might expect.

By providing a UI that makes it slightly harder to find shows, displays as few shows at a time as possible and one that lures you into watching whatever is on the screen at the moment (even if just for a minute) they are effectively increasing the value of each piece of content and increasing the odds that you will watch whatever is on the screen while at the same time decreasing the odds that you will fall into choice paralysis.

This also might make it seem like they have more new/relevant content than they really do.

I'm not really well versed in this area, but I'd love to see an analysis of this hypothesis by someone who is more competent in this kind of design.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#36

Post by hendzen »

zerr wrote: post #32
pfarnsworth wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our TPM worked at Netflix for 2 years and she said that she personally saw about 20 people let go during her time.

I could understand this if interviews were broken (in a different way) at Netflix - is this the case? i.e. is it ridiculously easy to get a job there?

There are plenty of highly capable people who are quite unproductive once settled in to a job.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#37

Post by btym »

scarface74 wrote: post #19
mimsee wrote: post #3

> We don't do anything shady, and we're proud of that. We're an honest company. Maybe not shady, but surely controversial. [0]: https://www.w3.org/TR/encrypted-media/ [1]: https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/18/drm-for-the-web-is-a-bad... [2]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/drm-in-web-standards

I don't see anything controversial about encrypting media you rent. The whole canard about DRM is that you don't own the media. You're not paying for ownership of Netflix videos. You're paying for access.

I've always thought that streaming services' main goal should be to be more convenient than digital piracy. That's when they win- when the service provides such a clear advantage over piracy that people are happy to pay money for it. At the moment, aside from ethical qualms, it is often more convenient for Linux, FF, and Chrome users to pirate Netflix's content.

DRM, ironically, promotes piracy.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#38

Post by jjawssd »

fooey wrote: post #11

Netflix's culture deck is one of the most horrific things in the tech industry I've ever seen. It's so ruthlessly mercenary, I have a hard time understanding how why people put up with them.

Primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics? Can you elaborate more?

Page 61 says dishonesty and harassment are intolerable.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#39

Post by blazespin »

bronlund wrote: post #20

Answer me this: Why does the interface suck so bad? How are pissing off 100 million subscribers good business? I apologize for not expanding my view with a detailed analysis, but damn. The update you guys promoted like half a year in advance made it even worse.

I'd like to follow up with this, why can I tap scroll fast forward/backward on amazon prime but not netflix? Patent protection?

It's a pretty awesome feature.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#40

Post by pfarnsworth »

tpae wrote: post #30

I'm pretty sure I've had few recruiters tell me, poaching from Netflix is almost impossible because of their ridiculously high salaries.

450k/yr cash for senior software engineers. No bonus, no RSUs, I think maybe 5% of that is in stock. Nothing else though, which would be fine by me.
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