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Netflix: Culture of Fear

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Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#101

Post by elq »

lkrubner wrote: post #99
johnyzee wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think his "IT was a hellhole with firing about a year ago" comment referred to the industry, not Netflix in particular.

Consider the next sentence: "Note that IT was a hellhole with firing about a year ago. Two really good people got dropped." The 2 people who got dropped were clearly from Netflix.

Yes. Netflix's IT group (Sysadmin's, NOC people, Helpdesk, etc) went through a reorg about a year and a half ago. Lots of change. Not all of it good at the time, but in the end it did work out quite well.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#102

Post by elq »

cookiecaper wrote: post #89
elq wrote: post #84

I've worked at netflix for about three years. I'm a software engineer and work on personalization. In the time I've been there, not one of the 40 or so people that I know well or work with have been fired. One person I was acquainted with was fired - no one found it surprising. Note that IT was a hellhole with firing about a year ago. Two really good people got dropped. I know more people that have quit - 3, but 1 ha…

Thanks for this perspective, I appreciate it. However, you noted that the IT department (assuming IT and engineering are separate at Netflix) was overboard with firing. If the manager on Glassdoor worked there, do you think his review is more justified? Netflix's pronounced strategy is great if you have judicious and fair managers all the way up the ranks in your department, but it seems that it only takes one bad ma…

IT fits under the operations umbrella. Engineering fits under the product development umbrella. We're very separate - cost center vs. profit center.

Assuming the reviewer came from IT or another operations group, some of what was written is more understandable, but much of it is not.

Our number one guard against a capricious manager causing trouble is the culture of openness - we're encouraged/expected to say what we think (even if it's controversial). We also have a 360 review process that is unique in that anyone can review anyone else. I could write a review for Reed if I so chose.

I've stuck around because:

- I love working with the people I work with - they're smart, call out bullshit, write good code, value quality, and share knowledge freely.

- I think the management is very competent - as a whole (from exec's down to engineering managers) are at least as smart as any I've interacted with, but they are they are more ethical than any. Every last manager I've interacted with has earned my respect, I don't give it easily.

- The environment is as a-political as I've seen. The meritocracy I expected to find in academia.

I absolutely love working at netflix, they've spoiled me for any other job.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#103

Post by cookiecaper »

elq wrote: post #102
cookiecaper wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this perspective, I appreciate it. However, you noted that the IT department (assuming IT and engineering are separate at Netflix) was overboard with firing. If the manager on Glassdoor worked there, do you think his review is more justified? Netflix's pronounced strategy is great if you have judicious and fair managers all the way up the ranks in your department, but it seems that it only takes one bad ma…

IT fits under the operations umbrella. Engineering fits under the product development umbrella. We're very separate - cost center vs. profit center. Assuming the reviewer came from IT or another operations group, some of what was written is more understandable, but much of it is not. Our number one guard against a capricious manager causing trouble is the culture of openness - we're encouraged/expected to say what we…

So how does the 360° review process help people who are on the chopping block? Can they request an appeal or re-evaluation? What if someone at an obstructed angle files a review? Just what happened in IT that caused those "two really good people" to be fired? Good sports teams don't let their really good people go. Why didn't you file a review for the two really good people in IT?

Who has final authority to determine that someone is adequate or extraordinary? Again, the idea is subjective, and can be biased toward not performance but individual compatibility, socially or professionally.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#104

Post by conover »

Umalu wrote: post #20

It is rare to see a truly performance-based employment system at a company because, as this post (and the comments) show, in order to execute well you have to continuously cull the low performers from the herd. This creates a culture of fear, especially in those likeliest to be culled. This is not unique to Netflix -- each year General Electric culls the bottom percentile of its management. The trick is to have perfo…

Unless you work in government, then your company can't be culled.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#105

Post by jimbokun »

male_salmon wrote: post #79
vital_sol wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been a Netflix customer since 2005. Last time I tried to use their "streaming service," it demanded that I use IE instead of Firefox to watch a movie. I never tried it ever since. Yet I'm still renting DVDs from them.

You can watch instantly using a variety of browsers including Firefox and Chrome on Windows and OS X.

And Wii, XBox, PS3, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, and various Blue Ray players, and I'm probably forgetting some.

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#106

Post by binaryfinery »

noonespecial wrote: post #80

If you go and read this slide deck about Netflix's coporate culture (starting at about slide 23): http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664 You might discover why there might be a "culture of fear" among the average performing employees, and why they might throw off a good bit of negativity in their hiring/firing cycle.

Indeed. I thought those slides were awesome. Is this all some brilliant hiring plan?

Re: Netflix: Culture of Fear

#107

Post by astrofinch »

mwsfc wrote: post #94
astrofinch wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So maybe the upper management can innovate and the employees can't?

Not at all. Think of it this way, you're a small company with a limited budget. You have a very difficult problem and your existing engineers haven't been able to figure it out. Hiring another engineer could help but it's no guarantee and you can't keep hiring indefinitely until it's solved. Why not have a contest with a known payout (ie the prize). That way you're not paying for all the work that is a non-winning id…

How is that a "not at all"?
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