Spotify

Great WLB and benefits. Working from anywhere is great for people with family and living far from the office.

Everything moves too slowly, and there is a lot of cross-org chasm that makes it impossible to collaborate efficiently.

Many EMs are average and don't know much about engineering. It is fascinating to see a room full of EMs who never take a look at the codebase, discussing H1 planning and timelines.

Engineers have to produce design docs (RFCs) for visibility. No one really reads them, but you still have to write them and share them widely to get comments and claim contribution. Many RFCs are useless and of low quality.

Engineers have little influence over project priorities and are not empowered. It is pretty much a top-down chain of command. Good luck to any self-motivated engineer who wants to initiate a project bottom-up. Better follow the EM's orders.

Empower engineers