Indeed reviews

If you're not in one of the main office branches, you can't expect any personal development or career openings for further growth. Additionally, you may have a Manager/Director who will tell you that your feedback is valuable, but will in turn negate any feedback you share; no matter how tactfully you’ve presented it. In some instances, feedback given has been used to negatively impact employees during quarterly reviews. This kind of gaslighting is disappointing, but it's what you can expect if you plan to work in the San Mateo office. Further, there is blatant favoritism amongst Managers/Directors, even to the point of promoting less experienced Indeed employees to senior positions. Given how political the office culture is, it's starting to resemble high school as opposed to a professional working environment. Managers will often be involved in conversations that are inappropriate for a workplace, and given the corporate structure, there is little that can be done without repercussion. If you're interested in switching departments, or further developing from the role in which you begin, this is likely not the place for you. It seems to me that Indeed relies on its brand name to attract new talent and indoctrinate new hires into believing that Indeed values more than just its bottom line. In reality, when employees find that this is not the case and leave, this never-ending cycle continues to perpetuate. Many of our most senior employees (3-4 years) have already left Indeed for this reason-- including a CS Manager, who helped influenced the San Mateo office in a positive way. I know that Indeed will do well as its brand will continue to attract new talent, but if I can give you my honest advice after having worked here: please don’t waste your time.

I was subjected to the dreaded Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) after just 7 months at the company, then was let go a month later. Quarterly reviews are nice to gauge your standing, but I never realized how quickly you could be cut loose if you don't meet expectations in your first 2 quarters. How did that happen so fast? Because my team was all about fast: speed was their primary focus; I was expected to code fast, and I simply wasn't fast enough. (Never mind the fact that I delivered almost zero bugs while I was there...) I never got an explanation as to WHY speed was so important, either. There were no deadlines, no imminent sales demos, nothing I could see that would demand such speed. As far as I could tell, it was all about being fast for fast's sake; in other words, bragging rights. What was most upsetting was that I was a remote employee, and I had no direct management guidance or mentoring during my tenure. I was just expected to know how to do everything, and if I didn't know, learn quickly. I wasn't quick enough. The atmosphere felt very unsafe. I didn't feel like I could fail, because the failures would simply be recorded and used against me in the next review. I didn't feel like I could ask for help because it would just highlight that I wasn't up to par with their standards. I was very much on my own, and for a remote employee, this is death; there is no chance for success. I honestly question the monetary decision of investing so much money in hiring a software engineer only to let them go less than a year later, especially without any mentoring. Even after my managers realized I didn't know as much as they thought I did, they didn't see any reason to grow me into the role. When you make billions of dollars a year, I guess you can do that. My advice to future Indeed software engineers: know your stuff before you sign on with Indeed. You won't last long if you think they'll help you ramp up.