Keep your sanity, work anywhere but here - SAVE YOURSELF!!
Pros
You know how in scary movies, there are so many telltale signs that things are about to go horribly awry? I mean, of course, you know as the viewer, it's a scary movie, you are aware of what you're going to see. But then crosses flip upside down, dolls start talking and weird disembodied voices say things like "geettttt ouuuutttttt..." and you're wondering why none of the characters seem to be bothered by those terrifying indicators? Do your research and don't say no one warned you. The pros of working at JFrog are few. You will learn a lot about yourself, which is by far the biggest pro. What do I mean by learn that? I mean you will learn how much psychological and emotional abuse you can withstand before you crack, a milestone generally achieved by running to the bathroom or your car to weep (where you will often find your coworkers doing the same) or constantly explaining to family and friends why you are working while at dinner, the movies, a party, or a funeral, because of your fear of retribution for missing anything - an email, a call, a text, a WhatsApp, a Slack. Then you will discover how much you can take before you become physically affected by nausea, headaches or a dependency on alcohol just to sustain your will to live. Finally, you will learn how long you can maintain your pride, self-esteem and confidence in your job skill when you are constantly being whittled down to a zombie-like executioner of absurd, frantic, brainless, repetitive, and reactive busywork. You will also learn that you are able to work 10, 12 then maybe 14 hours a day, every day. You will learn that working a greater quantity of hours is always associated with working harder. You will learn that working smarter, bringing in ideas and attempting to innovate is often met with contempt, scorn and immediate dismissal. You will learn not to be surprised when coworkers quit or are fired on a daily basis. You will learn that most executive managers feel no shame and happily speak about your accomplishments as theirs, and any failures or shortcomings as yours, or your team’s - some even going so far as to point fingers at specific individual contributors (what leadership!). You will learn that most executive managers have delusions of grandeur, lack actual people management experience and have no interest in protecting or enabling their team members. You will learn that not only does executive management not trust you, they think you are incompetent and they truly believe that if you are left to your own devices to sharpen a pencil, you will bring down the company. You will learn to stop providing opinions or putting real thought into anything because you must send everything, every last thing you might produce, write or send for approval - yeah, I’m talking a 1-1 email here. You will learn not to consider how your stress and inability to think about anything but work affects your loved ones and just keep working. Finally, if you are one of the lucky ones, you will learn what it means to leave JFrog behind and move on to a different company. One that hires you because they believe you have something to bring to the table - a brain, an opinion, maybe even some experience. Honestly, ⅓ will work after you leave, you’ll have a very, very low bar for acceptable company culture. Here are some of my favorite quotes, what I think of as fun excerpts taken from my time working here: “The only form of management is micromanagement” *yikes* “You are all replaceable, we don’t actually need you” *duly noted* “No one I spoke to thought you were capable of taking this on, but I gave you the responsibility anyway” *inspirational, let’s put this on a calendar* “Finally, you broke! I was pushing and pushing waiting for you to break” *dead silence as you consider the implications of this statement* There are also things like a solid flagship product, catered lunch, good health benefits and 401k I would put in the "Pros" column.
Cons
Executive management refuses to acknowledge there is a problem with the culture at JFrog. There is a problem, a massive, universal problem. Everything, and I mean everything, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g must go through your manager for approval, then their manager, then their manager, however many levels of management are there until you reach the top. Why do you even bother calling people managers? I have no idea. Everyone there is just trying to survive. If you want your product to thrive in the market, you need employees who are doing more than scraping by or hanging on by a thread and you are 100% responsible for building a culture that supports growth and happiness, both professional and personal.
