Pros
Good salary Decent company Decent stock Flexible schedule
Cons
I feel compelled to share my deeply frustrating experience with the Customer Experience (CX) team at Pure Storage. If you’re considering joining this team as a technical writer—or in any capacity—please read this and understand the reality of what you're stepping into. From day one, I quickly became aware that the structure of this team is fundamentally broken. As a technical writer, you will be reporting to no less than five different managers, each one with their own conflicting priorities and expectations. These include the VP, the Director, an Ops and Program Management (self-appointed manager), your direct manager (who I strongly recommend you be cautious of), and even an individual contributor who has taken on a self-appointed managerial role. This lack of clarity in leadership is not just confusing, it is detrimental to your productivity and mental well-being. No matter how much work you will do, the 5 managers will never appreciate your work and play their filthy politics (in the form of white privilege, and the VPis also an enabler of white privilege). I started with Pure Storage about a year ago, full of enthusiasm and a willingness to contribute. I picked up projects immediately, began managing workflows, made valuable contributions, and suggested process improvements—all within my first week. But this was when the problems began. The manager I was originally supposed to report to ended up being an individual contributor and was effectively removed from the leadership role. At this point, I was assigned to work with a member of Ops and Program Management—who was perhaps the most micromanaging, unappreciative individual I have ever encountered in my professional career. Most importantly, extremely inauthentic and a fake personality. No matter how well I performed, there was never any acknowledgment, just constant, unnecessary oversight. It was clear that no matter how much effort you put in, it would never be enough. To make matters worse, the new manager they brought in was both inauthentic and fake, which makes sense. They hired someone like themselves to maintain the status quo. Instead of providing guidance or fostering a supportive environment, this new manager exacerbated the toxicity of the environment. She asked all of us for psychological safety for her to feed us her nonsense but never offer the psychological safety for us to trust her leadership. The team culture was toxic, rife with unqualified “leaders,” and completely devoid of the structure or true leadership that is necessary for any organization to thrive. The VP and Ops and Program Management team and now the CX tech writer manager are playing a fantasy of Pure Storage as the Meta/Apple where Pure Storage is far from it. Ultimately, working with this team was like being surrounded by selfish, self-absorbed, and fake personalities. Instead of collaboration and mutual respect, there was an overwhelming atmosphere of people out to protect their own egos rather than support the team’s goals. You can never trust the leadership here, and the manager who started letting people go in the first month of her joining without her having any grasp of the work herself, used the meeting time to tell her boring stories. She never discussed important stuff that related to work and just spent time in her silly stories to camaflogue herself from the lack of technical understanding or any technical documentation knowledge. Hence, beware. In short, if you value your career, your mental health, and your ability to contribute meaningfully, I strongly advise against applying for a position with the CX team at Pure Storage. This is a dysfunctional, toxic environment that offers no real leadership or opportunities for growth. From my time of joining to now, I have seen 4 people leave this team within 1st year. After all this, no bonuses, no stock offered. Please think twice before you make the mistake of joining. Poor Management Politics Wana-be Syndrome (management thinks they are running a META/Apple. They are no way near it.