Arista Networks

Maybe a good company for freshers.

I have never been as unhappy with my career as I am with Arista. There's a constant pressure with no clarity on performance year on year.

The compensation policy is stock-driven. Years may go by without an iota of appreciation. Even though they claim that stock price appreciation is as good as a hike, when it comes to stock refresh, the number of stocks awarded is so low that salary could fall below what you joined at.

The old-timers have created an environment where much of the time is spent in meaningless discussions, thereby reducing the output of engineers and thus degrading their performance. The old-timers would follow one ideology today, and when you propose anything on that same ideology tomorrow, they'd fight it tooth and nail. It's a confusing place. Management is defensive of these folks. They don't realize that continuing this behavior for a long time would harm the product.

The root of the issue is Areview, where peers review and rank each other. Everyone wants to be more involved in discussions to get more Areviews for themselves, even if they have nothing meaningful to contribute.

If management is not happy with an Areview ranking provided by an engineer to their favorites, they'd ask you to change it.

Managers do not have any people management skills. They seem to be biding their time until retirement, as they have made enough money in the IPO and now no longer care about an engineer's career or the company's product.

Layoffs are done secretly based on Areview rankings, which are anyway skewed to benefit old-timers.

There's a lot of discrimination within the organization. They'd cry if you need work from home for a few weeks for personal reasons, whereas they have allowed directors to be permanently WFH to take care of their families. Some employees create ruckus in chat groups if others take WFH.

The politics is depressing. This place has made me sad.

On top of that, there's no real skill enhancement because they use a proprietary language, TACC.

This place is not meant for experienced folks. You will always be an outsider here, a second-class citizen.

Management needs to first acknowledge the issues and then reflect upon how to improve the company's culture. Connect with your employees more often and listen with empathy.