I used to love working here; I would avoid joining as a manager
I used to love working here; I would avoid joining as a manager
The company values used to be top-notch. They probably still are at the engineering level, but as a manager, and if you are Australia-based, you are likely going to be made redundant. All senior positions are moving to the US of A.
If you like performance reviews, which happen every six months and take two months to complete.
If you like handing folks arbitrary performance ratings at the end of a six-month period.
Join if you like stack ranking – sorry, "not stack ranking" – but ranking people against each other and then being pressured to reduce their ratings because apparently your "two-up" (who dealt with your engineers exactly zero times) knows better. Oh, and because the company needs to find another 2% of "did not meets" or "mostly meets."
Since Rajeev started and brought all his Microsoft friends with him, the company culture has taken a hit. Everyone is ex-Meta or ex-MSFT. Everyone says they "don't know each other," but their LinkedIn shows they all worked with each other, knew of each other, and were hired because they think and work the same.
If you didn't cut it at MSFT, you'll enjoy it here. If you didn't make it at META, come aboard. If one of your mates works here, you'll fit in.
Values are no longer being lived by.
The expectation is to work long hours. Yes, you can work from anywhere, as long as you work like the ex-MSFT folks: 10-11 hours per day, and you answer your Slack messages.
Clearly, the whole MSFT show isn't working. The share price has been well below $200 for 2.5 years (give or take a few short-lived increases), roughly since Rajeev started. Though that's probably just a coincidence.
Sure, there were those "macro-economic" conditions to deal with in late 2022 and 2023, but the way front-line managers were weeded out and everyone is now working crazy hours isn't sustainable.
Every manager seems to be constantly looking over their shoulder. Performance management is getting pretty gnarly, and the bi-annual performance reviews, which btw. take 2 months each, are also not sustainable.
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Atlassian Interview Experiences
Head of Engineering
I was approached by a recruiter. There were 5 interviews, apart from the first hiring manager interview. The interview rounds were as follows: * Values * XFN collaboration * Engineering Leadership * Architecture deep dive * Operational Excellence
SRE Engineer
The first round involved HR screening, followed by a coding exercise. The question was not difficult to solve, but the assessment will depend a lot on the interviewer. If the interviewer likes your solution, you will probably proceed to the next rou
Software Engineer (Internship)
The interview process consisted of three rounds: * An online assessment (OA). * A coding test via Zoom with an engineer. * A values interview with a more senior engineer who has been at the company for many years.
Head of Engineering
AustraliaFebruary 1, 2024I was approached by a recruiter. There were 5 interviews, apart from the first hiring manager interview. The interview rounds were as follows: * Values * XFN collaboration * Engineering Leadership * Architecture deep dive * Operational Excellence
SRE Engineer
Sydney, AustraliaOctober 4, 2025The first round involved HR screening, followed by a coding exercise. The question was not difficult to solve, but the assessment will depend a lot on the interviewer. If the interviewer likes your solution, you will probably proceed to the next rou
Software Engineer (Internship)
Sydney, AustraliaSeptember 22, 2025The interview process consisted of three rounds: * An online assessment (OA). * A coding test via Zoom with an engineer. * A values interview with a more senior engineer who has been at the company for many years.
