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Netflix: Culture of Fear

glassdoor.com

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Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#51

Post by brown9-2 »

d2viant wrote: post #28
ardit33 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but this comment is a bit of an ad hominem. I am an old member of the HN community, and pretty in tune with the startup community (been to one before my current job) Lets just say that my day to day job has nothing to do with me posting this. At the end of the day I am just an engineer as most people in here.

Then perhaps I'm missing something. Clarify for me, were you ever an employee there? The reason I ask is because it's on a website for employees to review their own company -- which is how most people interpret those reviews. Moreover, the review says it's from a Netflix employee -- specifically a Netflix Manager. I guess it's fine if you have an opinion and want to post it, but if none of the above is true, why not…

ardit33 did not write the glassdoor review.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#55

Post by j_baker »

Every time I read about netflix's culture, I'm reminded of the old saying about the Model T: "you can get it in any color you want as long as it's black". The impression I get about Netflix seems to have an underlying theme of: "we give you unlimited freedom as long as you're doing the things we want you to do".

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#56

Post by sabat »

brown9-2 wrote: post #5

The part about "fear", or the high pay and low benefits, shouldn't be surprising if you are familiar with Netflix's values. They place employee performance above all else and strive to create a place where high performers want to work - which means getting rid of anyone who isn't one. Their values are to give employees huge amounts of freedom and responsibility and to let the individual's decide what to do with that,…

They place employee performance above all else and strive to create a place where high performers want to work

If that was actually true, then they wouldn't fire people automatically based on two mistakes -- because high performers make mistakes. And then they learn a lot from those mistakes and become even higher performers. Apparently not at Netflix, however.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#57

Post by j_baker »

hugh3 wrote: post #19
aresant wrote: post #3

Cynic in me wonders if this post is tied to the recent frenzy around traders shorting Netflix? Even a few of the supporting comments feel scripted. Say this because Netflix seems to have great luck attracting people that I respect personally and their culture building and HR practices are fairly lauded elsewhere . . .

The cynic in me is cynical of your attempts to find grand conspiracies where "standard-ass disgruntled ex-employee" would suffice. If I could short a company and then collapse its stock price by posting "wah this company sucks to work for" rants on glassdoor.com, I'd be very rich by now.

The cynic in me is cynical of your attempts to disagree with someone whose ultimate point is the same as yours: that this review is without merit.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#58

Post by brown9-2 »

sabat wrote: post #56
brown9-2 wrote: post #5

The part about "fear", or the high pay and low benefits, shouldn't be surprising if you are familiar with Netflix's values. They place employee performance above all else and strive to create a place where high performers want to work - which means getting rid of anyone who isn't one. Their values are to give employees huge amounts of freedom and responsibility and to let the individual's decide what to do with that,…

They place employee performance above all else and strive to create a place where high performers want to work If that was actually true, then they wouldn't fire people automatically based on two mistakes -- because high performers make mistakes. And then they learn a lot from those mistakes and become even higher performers. Apparently not at Netflix, however.

Be careful you aren't automatically accepting the version of events from someone on the ugly end of the firing without having both sides of the story.

What one aggrieved person considers "just two mistakes" might seem to his or her team like a pattern of clueless-ness and incompetence.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#59

Post by hugh3 »

j_baker wrote: post #57
hugh3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cynic in me is cynical of your attempts to find grand conspiracies where "standard-ass disgruntled ex-employee" would suffice. If I could short a company and then collapse its stock price by posting "wah this company sucks to work for" rants on glassdoor.com, I'd be very rich by now.

The cynic in me is cynical of your attempts to disagree with someone whose ultimate point is the same as yours: that this review is without merit.

Oh, I don't think it's the same point. Under one scenario it's a completely made-up review invented by somebody with a somewhat odd strategy towards stock price manipulation. Under my scenario, it's of some value, because it tells you what exactly it is about Netflix which people who hate working at Netflix hate about working at Netflix.

I wouldn't make it my sole data point if I were trying to understand what it's like to work at Netflix, either way.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#60

Post by Periodic »

jrockway wrote: post #35
aresant wrote: post #3

Cynic in me wonders if this post is tied to the recent frenzy around traders shorting Netflix? Even a few of the supporting comments feel scripted. Say this because Netflix seems to have great luck attracting people that I respect personally and their culture building and HR practices are fairly lauded elsewhere . . .

I think some people have different "career goals" than other people. Some people want to show up and keep their chair warm from 9-5 every day for 4 years, to get their small pay increase and title bump. Others want to come into the company with the title "Awesome Excellent Programmer", work on something cool, and leave the company after they've done something interesting with the title "Awesome Excellent Programmer".…

I realized this is how it is at my current employer too. They have very strict processes around this to manage seniority. For example, I am currently at a lower title (level 2) than another developer on my team (level 3) who I spend at least half an hour a day managing and coaching. We have to be very diligent with code reviews for this person because there is a lot of stuff they miss. I feel like they would be a good fit for a junior (level 1). However, they've put in their five years and received their promotions and pay raises.

They have a lot of process tied to seniority. You can only get a title increase every few years and no more than one title at a time without a review all the way up to the VP. You can't ask for more vacation as it is formulaic and HR isn't interested in making exceptions.

This is definitely a company for those who like to keep their seat warm and then go home to their families in the evenings, all the while enjoying the job security and lack of autonomy.

Since my interview at Google didn't pan out, I'm working on a startup on the side to keep myself sane. In the mean time I reason it will be a good experience of what not to do.

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