Dropbox

High base salary, decent insurance with no premiums, good 401(k), free food.

My manager expected me to hit project deadlines that were set by an architect working on an entirely different team, over six months before the project was assigned to our team. No opportunity was given to provide my own input on those estimates, and the assigned projects did not come with a clear design.

I always found previously-unknown scope not considered in the original estimate, but when I brought up this new scope, my manager always dismissed my updated estimates. In performance reviews and ongoing one-on-ones, my manager would consistently tell me that I needed to go faster because I had missed the deadlines that I had told them were unreasonable.

If you find a manager with a backbone who will push back against this kind of deadline setting, then you'll probably have a good experience.

Involve the implementing engineers early in the project lifecycle. Timeline estimation should be collaborative with all involved parties, not a top-down edict.