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Working at Netflix 2017

brendangregg.com

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Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#61

Post by brendangregg »

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.

The culture isn't for everyone, and that's ok. But I'd personally call horrific the kinds of things that the culture deck prevents happening at Netflix. No brilliant jerks. No deadwood staff who after years of second chances still can't do their jobs, but can't ever be let go. No abusive office politics. etc.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#62

Post by svachalek »

blazespin wrote: post #41

Netflix has a 3.4 rating on Glassdoor. Yikes. I wouldn't consider working at a company unless it had 4 or more.

There's a lot of customer service reps in that rating. I have no idea what it's actually like over there in customer service, but over in engineering a lot of us are loving our jobs and can't imagine wanting to leave.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#63

Post by paulddraper »

Freak_NL wrote: post #9
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

Yeah, being limited to 720p because you run a free software operating system is not my idea of 'not shady' (Netflix is keeping their streams on Firefox and Chrome on 720p as a matter of policy, 1080p requires IE11, Edge, or Safari on a non-free operating system, or their proprietary app on an approved operating system). The only way this makes sense is if the purpose of this blockade is to push people towards devices…

After 18 months of Netflix membership, I happened to watch it on another computer. I didn't realize that not everyone had crappy resolution.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#64

Post by paulddraper »

EpicEng wrote: post #5
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

Realistically, what's their option here? Take a stance on an issue not everyone agrees upon (and which most people don't care about) which could potentially shut them down in the long run?

> which could potentially shut them down in the long run

Yes, if we ever possessed the technology to pirate movies, everyone would watch them and the industry couldn't survive.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#65

Post by brendangregg »

dominotw wrote: post #15
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.

Netflix recruiter forced me to read all 200 pages of it and asked me pop quiz on it during the subsequent call. No Joke. During the interview interviewer constantly referred to "Netflix culture" as if they were in some sort of cult. Why does a corporate company need to invent some ridiculous "culture" is beyond me. You pay me I do work, thats all the culture I need. >>Then while working here, staff cite the culture d…

The recruiter encouraged me to read it to (which I've been mentioning in these posts), but when it came to the interview they seemed to be checking that yes, I really had read it, and yes, I still liked the idea. Rather than seeing if I could memorize it all. That was just my experience.

Companies have culture, but it's learned through word of mouth or trial and error. Writing it down and sharing it in public before you join the company is really beneficial.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#66

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

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

There are many shady tech company practices:

* Open sexual harassment culture

* Building spy software for the government

* Selling censorship tools to governments

* Selling your private data to advertisers

* Allowing advertisers to target a person's emotional state

* Profiting off of fake news and click bait

* Tracking people across the web

* Using monopolies to limit competition in other realms

* Strong arming third parties to keep them from using your competitors' products

Somehow, limiting streaming to 720p on non-supported platforms seems pretty benign.

Edit: Tried to separate list from closing comment.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#67

Post by hinfaits »

btym wrote: post #37
scarface74 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's not more convenient for Linux/FF/Chrome users to pirate. It can be a "better" option for those users to pirate if they absolutely need higher quality, but that's in no way more convenient than using Netflix.

Personally, I would rank convenience in this descending order: 720p Netflix on Chrome (my browser of choice); 1080p Netflix on a supported browser; piracy.

Maybe for the HN power user demographic the current DRM methodology is pushing users away, but for average joe (many of whom don't even know this is a thing) will happily plug along using Netflix.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#68

Post by abritinthebay »

snuxoll wrote: post #10
Freak_NL wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, being limited to 720p because you run a free software operating system is not my idea of 'not shady' (Netflix is keeping their streams on Firefox and Chrome on 720p as a matter of policy, 1080p requires IE11, Edge, or Safari on a non-free operating system, or their proprietary app on an approved operating system). The only way this makes sense is if the purpose of this blockade is to push people towards devices…

If it was licensing issues, it'd at least be nice if Netflix only lowered quality where required instead of across the board. For crying out loud, why can't I get 1080p streams of Netflix originals on Linux - I've got the stupid Widevine CDM installed, what's the problem?

Would be nice, but at the same time it's a lot simpler to just do it once.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#69

Post by svachalek »

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 think part of it depends on what you call "personally saw". I've been here 4 years, and I can name a lot of people that were let go. But it's a biggish company and there are just lots of people you know "of" without really working with that closely. In Silicon Valley 4 years is about how long it usually takes for complete turnover at a company, when you look around and there's nobody left that was there when you started. It's nothing like that for me, though, I'd say about half the people I interact with typically have been around about as long or longer than I have.

Re: Working at Netflix 2017

#70

Post by overcast »

paulddraper wrote: post #64
EpicEng wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realistically, what's their option here? Take a stance on an issue not everyone agrees upon (and which most people don't care about) which could potentially shut them down in the long run?

> which could potentially shut them down in the long run Yes, if we ever possessed the technology to pirate movies, everyone would watch them and the industry couldn't survive.

Right, so we'll make it stupid simple for people to do. A giant, unencrypted library of movies, that can be saved and redistributed. Pirating exists, but if I asked most people how to do it, they still wouldn't know how to download a torrent client, find the torrent, unpack the movie, get a movie player, etc.. You know how locks on your front door keeps the honest thieves out? Same idea. I've never understood the complaints over DRM. At what point in your lives does it provide some type of hindrance? I load up Netflix, I start playing a movie until it's done. I don't give a shit if it was encrypted before I viewed it. All I care about is that I can watch it. What's the issue here?
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