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The pay is simply not worth it

Senior Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at ByteDance for 1 year
August 11, 2023
1.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Base pay is good. I went from $116k to $175k base with only one uplevel from another large tech company.

Benefits are solid. Medical has good coverage for cheap (I pay $0 monthly for all coverage).

Cons

PMs and managers have insane expectations for delivery times and quantity of work. Due to this, you are expected to work basically every evening, late at night, and often over the weekend.

Meetings with teammates in China are always China time, so nearly every evening is filled with meetings. This means, even without insane work expectations, you are expected to work 10 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week, just for meetings.

If you are not Chinese, all your coworkers will look down on you. You will be constantly treated as lesser and subject to increased scrutiny for everything you do, and it will be extremely obvious in many cases. I am the only member of my team that is required to have my code reviewed, for example.

Similarly, if you don't speak and read Chinese, you need to use autotranslate for nearly everything. This includes tons of important documentation that doesn't really translate well from such disparate languages. Most meetings will also be held in Chinese, meaning you will rely on both voice recognition and autotranslate for hour-long meetings that are mandatory.

About 1/3 of the 'total compensation' for the position is in bonus and stock. The bonus is performance-based, so they'll pay you as little as they want. The stock is useless because ByteDance isn't a publicly traded company yet, so you can only sell back to the company for a fraction of the value.

Additional Ratings

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

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