Started with promise, left feeling drained
Pros
Most colleagues were kind, helpful, and genuinely tried to support each other. Salary was fair and always paid on time. You get exposure to multiple projects and a wide tech stack, especially in your early years.
Cons
Poor planning is the default: Deadlines are often decided without input from the devs who actually do the work. Scope changes last minute, and teams scramble to deliver under unclear conditions. It’s stressful, and worse — it’s normalized. Micromanagement from weak leads: Some team leads lack the experience or temperament to manage people. They micromanage, ignore feedback, or push their own priorities without context. It felt like I was constantly justifying my work to someone who didn’t understand it. HR can only do so much: While HR was kind and communicative, deeper issues (like toxic team leadership or favoritism) are there. Reporting something doesn’t seem to trigger improvement — just polite acknowledgement. Career development is vague at best: I never got a clear idea of what growth here looked like. Promotions seemed inconsistent. Some less competent people moved up, while others with strong output stayed frozen. I stopped asking. Emotional toll creeps up: By the time I left, I wasn’t angry — just exhausted. I stopped caring about the work because no one seemed to care about doing things the right way. That quiet erosion of motivation is what finally pushed me out.
