eBay

Engineers at eBay are very, very friendly and collaborative. I suspect a significant causal factor is that a large majority of engineers are immigrants from more community-oriented cultures, which generally promotes a more respectful and familial environment. I loved all my colleagues at eBay during the time I was there. The hardest part about leaving was saying goodbye to these fantastic folks.

Unfortunately, eBay's business outlook is extremely uncertain. After the recent PayPal spinoff, it seems like the new eBay executive leadership is generally more "corporate" and less able to drive true innovation. We've undergone a significant brain drain since 2014, with many of our best engineers leaving the company at a noticeably higher rate. This has the potential to be a fatal downward spiral, with the talent loss (at both top and lower rungs) making it even harder to attract and retain other top talent. eBay still has a very inspiring purpose and mission, but I'm definitely worried about its ability to compete effectively going forward.

Stop the brain drain and make talent retention your top priority.

Bring in leaders who can bring true game-changing ideas and innovations to the table, rather than more corporate suits like most of the recent new top executives.