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If you don't fit the mold, there are major headwinds

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Roblox for 2 years
January 12, 2022
San Mateo, California
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros
  • Some people are very helpful and collaborative.
  • Benefits have expanded.
  • Compensation is competitive.
  • Stock has done very well.
Cons
  • Above-average level of politics (favoritism, obstruction, showmanship, pandering) within management.
  • Managers don't grow employees; they are just a pass-through for blame and responsibility.
  • Managers and ICs have little power to make decisions; decisions are made from the VP/exec level with little transparency.
  • Some with long tenure refuse to go to meetings, refuse to answer questions, and stall work from being done.
  • Exec leadership is a very closed group that is an echo chamber for the CEO.
  • Products are figure-it-out-yourself with no specs or documentation.
  • Competitiveness between teams means others are blocked from making progress on their own deliverables.
  • Innovation is choked due to continuous disagreement on a path forward.
  • Some code has no owners and requires you to reverse engineer the code to learn its function.
  • Weird model where if the owning team doesn't have time to work on something, engineers must make the changes themselves in code they don't know and own that piece going forward.
  • Some teams hire exclusively from FAANG companies.
  • Performance reviews are just a single number without much substantiation.
  • "Can I have a beer with this person?" was a question used by managers to decide on candidates.
  • VP review of interview candidates caused numerous candidates with all "yes" feedback to be thrown out.
  • They talk about diversity then continue to hire non-diverse senior and executive leadership.
  • Leadership doubled down on return to office then, at the last second, turned around due to internal protest.
Advice to Management

Take an honest look at the executive leadership. That's where the political games and pandering started, and it's just a trickle-down from there.

Otherwise, try to make objective, fact-driven decisions rather than using this "gut-feel" approach about individuals. Innovation can't exist in these conditions.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
3.0
Culture and Values
1.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
1.0
Career Opportunities
3.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
1.0

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