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It took a severe toll on my mental health and made me question my sanity

Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Atlassian for less than 1 year
May 20, 2025
Melbourne, Victoria
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

Fantastic pay and benefits. Well-recognized company. Some of the tech is quite cutting-edge.

Cons

Lots of tech is very legacy. Lots of tech is from acquired companies and is a mess. Be prepared to be performance managed into oblivion:

  • Had a meeting? Why?
  • Had no meeting? Why not?
  • Made a decision? Why?
  • Did not make a decision? Why not?
  • Don't know something? What's wrong with you?
  • Know something? Nobody cares.
  • Ahead of schedule on a project? Don't care.
  • Behind the schedule on a project? Absolutely end of the world.
  • Want to stop endlessly playing a game of "look how much better I am than everyone else"? Be prepared to see that come up at your next review cycle and feel it in the next bonus payout.
Advice to Management

You need a serious change of culture in your middle management - it's rotten. I'm not sure if this is company-wide, but my middle manager seemed more interested in endless performance metrics than ensuring that we had a positive atmosphere of trust and high performance.

The only people that succeed are the ones that are prepared to "play the game" of "please the manager". If you want an honest and open culture, look elsewhere.

Whatever the messages around culture and ways of working are set up at the top, that is not what's happening at the bottom.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
4.0
Culture and Values
2.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
3.0
Career Opportunities
3.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
3.0

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