Taro Logo

Declining Culture Everyday (Do not join)

Frontend Software Engineer II
Former Employee
Worked at Atlassian for 2 years
May 31, 2025
1.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Remote Work Availability Decent pay

Cons

There are a lot. If you are just looking for a brand name and ready to live in constant fear of losing your job, then it's okay.

In a while, once remote work becomes a norm for you, you will realize what you are losing against that, i.e., your mental sanity.

I will list down as much as I can, but you can be sure there are more cons as it's declining regularly.

  • Stack ranking, performance reviews twice a year with a mandate to put 5% in PIP.
  • PR count is tracked.
  • Confluence doc count created matters, to a point people are creating docs and PRs unnecessarily to inflate these numbers.
  • Cut-throat culture.
  • Skip-level managers have the final say, without the employee being given an opportunity to present their point of view.
  • The company is regularly firing and hiring.
  • Everybody is running into a rat race, just for the sake of surviving their job.
  • It has shifted from customer-centric teams to self-centric individuals.
  • People have to work 10-12 hours per day to get a 'Met expectations' rating to survive the job.
  • For roles less than P50, there are strict timelines to get promoted. If you don't get promoted in that timeline, you are on a PIP.
  • Bonus: Nobody is ready to put down a formal checklist on how to get promoted, just vague generic statements.
  • If you plan to get married and are thinking of taking 15-20 leaves, be ready for it to affect your rating, as your performance is compared with others without taking into consideration that you were on leave for almost a month.

There are more, I guess other reviews have covered that.

After the takeover from Meta executives in leading roles and filling other senior roles with their known, similar-minded leaders, Atlassian is not Atlassian anymore. It's Metalassian.

These leaders couldn't succeed in Meta, nor Microsoft, but somehow now they are also bringing Atlassian on the same path.

Ideally, Atlassian Values should change to:

  • Not so open company.
  • Build with PR count in mind.
  • Don't care about the customer.
  • Play as an individual.
  • Don't seek a change and follow the rat race.

Atlassian was a wonderful place when I joined. Now it's a place I won't recommend anyone to join.

Advice to Management

Please make some changes to leadership and return to what Atlassian used to be, or it won't be long before Atlassian loses its charm.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
1.0
Culture and Values
1.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
3.0
Career Opportunities
2.0
Compensation and Benefits
3.0
Senior Management
1.0

Was this helpful?

Atlassian Interview Experiences