Every week a large amount of time is spent running from fire to fire. Releases are not managed well, dates mean nothing and there is a lot of glossing over of issues in order to make an appearance.
Too much emphasis is put on networking within the company and not enough on the quality of work. If you can get 25 people to give generic feedback on your review and not seven people with honest, quality feedback, you're more likely to get a raise. Raises are small - usually 1% or in the form of RSUs which can't be collected for two years.
Hiring process purely depends on the manager of the group - Indian managers surround themselves with Indian employees, often brought in from India and on H1B. Asian managers do the same but not to such an extreme.
There are a lot of politics - especially when it comes to management and the relationships between the groups in India, Seattle and California. India does what they want, when they want and usually cuts communication when questioned. Seattle only wants to hear the good, not the truth and is slowly moving projects to either Seattle or India.
Definitely the strangest place I've ever worked - the large number of people leaving is pretty concerning.
