Pros
- Colleagues are mostly friendly, almost everyone is easy to work with - Mid-level managers (SDMs) are nice people (empathetic, supportive, no harassment/bullying) - Good equipment (latest Macbook Pro) - Salary is in the top 20% of the local market The culture is great, but it's changing.
Cons
- Very weak leadership (in their eyes you are just a resource to exploit), feedback is gathered but not acted upon, hot topics are avoided, arrogance - Although SDMs are nice people, they are given zero power to make changes and simply can't stand for their team - Technical decisions are made over your head and you are expected to follow it blindly without questioning their purpose, efficiency, or value to the business - No career advancement (promotion is almost unheard of so people just leave) - Meaningless job titles (some SDE2s are expected to do SDE3 level work, some SDE3s deliver below junior level), levels don't reflect competency or performance The most competent people started to leave about 2 years ago when the company forced contractors to become employees. The new hires are just not that good. Some were hired as seniors with just 2 years of experience and now they are the ones who interview people with 10+ years of experience. Ouch! A second wave of degradation is coming because from September 2024 they require everyone to be in the office 3 days a week. The director of the hub and the heads rage quit the Q&A session when this was announced. They literally closed the meeting without saying goodbye to ~100 people. Really, bro? I think the hub was hot between 2019-2022 but by 2024 Tesco Technology has lost its competitiveness in the job market. I wish they could turn the trend but it seems leadership wants to fight the job market forces in the coming years as well. It used to be a great place to work but that's changing rapidly. I'm afraid we got into a downward spiral. Many good people already left and they just can't hire new ones because the word got out.