Tripadvisor

The new Needham headquarters has some truly stellar amenities: lunch 5 days a week, a game room, a full gym with locker rooms, etc.

There are some really amazing people that work there, and I miss them dearly.

This is a great first job out of college—a tremendous learning experience.

• The product is always right and seems to have little sympathy for the engineers they work with. It is very easy for a Product Manager to insist that something be done over the weekend when they aren't the ones who have to do the actual engineering work. Not all product managers are at the same caliber, which makes the work even more frustrating.

• There is too much politicking. People have become territorial instead of cooperative, which makes every day a slog.

• Engineering has very little input into the product roadmap, which eventually forces some of the best engineers to seek new employment at smaller companies.

There are a lot of frustrated engineers at TripAdvisor. This is not normal attrition, and engineers are leaving to find companies where they will be valued for their skills and impact.

You need to wake up and actually try to retain your best people. TripAdvisor is quickly becoming a talent mill for the Greater Boston area.

Don't offer stock options in comp packages if the CEO's motto is to 'ignore the stock price while building a "better" company for the future.' No one is staying long enough to reap any benefits of the "Future TripAdvisor." In fact, you should seriously consider revamping everyone's comp package. Startups are putting together some really attractive offers.