Good people, top-down culture that burns them out
Pros
Hardworking and capable individual contributors who genuinely support each other.
Cons
Requirements are handed down verbally from the top with little to no documentation. Engineers are expected to build from chat messages and hallway conversations, then absorb the blame when the result doesn't match what leadership had in mind. PMs yelling at developers in meetings is tolerated and has become normalized. Instead of shielding the team, some leads pass the pressure straight down, so frontline engineers get squeezed from both sides. The turnover tells the story: some of the best engineers have already left, and the way things are going, they won't be the last. Terminations can come suddenly, with no performance process or warning — and they've hit some of the most responsible people on the team. Engineers are treated as order-takers rather than partners.
