Indeed

Indeed has a fantastic work culture. Everyone is smart and friendly. They treat the engineers extremely well. We have great benefits, and it's a joy to come to work. We have big technical projects but don't have to break our backs to get them done. Compensation is among the highest in the Austin area. I'm proud to work here.

The engineering org is unusually political. If you need a project that introduces new technology, it's not enough to make a good technical case. You also need to appease individuals in the "global infrastructure"/"systems engineering" organization.

Without their approval, they'll actively block your work. Even with their approval, they'll take months to do the work necessary to let you do your work, while imposing unusual access restrictions in the name of cost and security.

Almost my entire team is operating at 33% efficiency as we're blocked on systems engineering efforts to move forward. There needs to be some alignment among senior leadership on how we choose to empower developers to occasionally break the mold.

If you value developer happiness and velocity, please take a closer look at the systems engineering organization. We shouldn't be building walls between developers and operations.