Zoox

The product is cool and interesting. The food is outstanding. People are mostly friendly.

• Inexperienced Management
• Incompetent Management
• Inept Management
• Irresponsible Management
• Unreliable Management
• Zero career development

The managers in my department are almost exclusively early ICs who got promoted to manager around the time Zoox was acquired by Amazon. The majority of them display little or no ability or even interest in being people managers.

My department provides zero opportunities for growth, training, or advancement. I haven't learned a single new skill (at work) in the past three years. If I look back to who was on my team when I joined a few years ago, a few of them became people managers and the rest left for companies that pay better. I'm the only one still here and I'm job hunting. Zoox is a job, not a career. They don't have career development.

Oh, and "unlimited PTO" is a lie. They do keep track across years and make it harder and harder to take PTO as you take more. They will deny PTO this year because you took an above-average amount two years ago, regardless of whether your work is up to date or ahead of schedule. Friendly managers will tell you in private, not in public, that PTO counts against you when you're up for promotion.

Hire actual managers who learned how to be managers at other companies.

Train and develop your people. If you honestly think you're providing training and career growth opportunities, then the problem is you because you're not.