Taro Logo

Nice place to collect a paycheck

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Bloomberg LP for 6 years
August 10, 2021
Tokyo, Japan
1.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Pay is high for the Tokyo market. Flexible work hours.

It's a nice place to collect a paycheck, so long as you keep your head down and don't plan on fixing anything.

There is also a good volunteer program and nice office events.

A handful of strong engineers to work with and learn from.

Cons

The engineering department is in a late-stage "bozo explosion". Inept management, with poor technical skills and zero desire to fix anything, waits for an obvious way to win points with upper management. Sometimes they don't even do it then. It's mostly risk aversion: better to leave a system broken than fix it and risk exposing other broken things.

You get to watch/play the blame game whenever things break, or sit in meetings and come up with a good story that leaves the team/manager/org looking innocent. I think some people call this politics.

There is no hope for decent management, as anytime there is an opening, management promotes a technically deficient individual contributor who is unlikely to upstage them by doing any meaningful work.

If you try to transfer to a less dysfunctional team, your transfer might get blocked by management with some really flimsy reason given for why you weren't selected for an opening on another team. This actually happened to someone recently.

HR might listen to your complaints, but they will do absolutely nothing. In the worst case, if your complaint is about a manager, they will work with that manager to make it go away. One manager was reported for sexual harassment with zero consequences. Then the same manager started hiring more and more young women, using "diversity and inclusion" as an excuse. I am expecting a #METOO moment any day now.

Advice to Management

Sack Tokyo management and start over.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
1.0
Culture and Values
1.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
2.0
Career Opportunities
1.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
2.0

Was this helpful?

Bloomberg LP Interview Experiences