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Chaotic environment, overextended expectations of non-technical staff, bad work-life balance

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at eBay for less than 1 year
December 5, 2011
2.0
Doesn't RecommendApproves of CEO
Pros

Mostly friendly, good people to work with (some bad apples that proliferate).

Flexible scheduling.

Free sodas and Wednesday bagels.

Cons

Work many, many weekends. Deliverables and expectations are far-reaching in a short time period. Work/life is inconsistent -- either relatively lax for 3 months or crazy busy for 6. Ladder climbers proliferate.

Advice to Management

Surveys are useless at eBay. I know for a fact that there was a huge amount of negative feedback on the new floor design, and yet the internal messages disregarded this and said everyone thought it was a fantastic idea.

Surveys sent out for feedback on managers are also hard to gauge, since no one wants to be the Negative Nancy. There is always the fear of retaliation from upper management or the bad reputation of an employee who told the truth.

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