Some highlights I can recall:
Unlimited ESPP rewards already wealthy employees. If you can afford to not take any pay for six months, you basically get a big bonus.
I was told there was (and may still be) some kind of stack ranking system. Employees are fired if they're in the bottom x percent of performance reviews, even if they did a good job. In a company that's obsessed with everyone being exceptional, merely being adequate is considered failure.
Unlimited vacation time is like an Orwellian joke. What it really means is you don't accrue PTO, can't cash it out like at other companies, and how much vacation you really get to take is a constant negotiation with management. The net effect is nobody takes any because nobody wants to be the guy who takes too much vacation, for fear of being perceived as one of those lower performing employees that gets let go each year.
The whole thing sounded icky to me.
For example, at Netflix as a manager I don't "veto" any proposed vacations, because my engineers do not propose vacations -- they tell me what time they're taking off. It's their job to make sure that's not going to be a surprise to anyone covering for them, and it's not my job to check that they've done that work.
As for being careful not to be the guy who takes too much vacation ... putting aside the fact I have people reporting to me who aren't guys, there are people on my team who take two days of vacation a year; there are people on my team who take ~6 weeks of vacation per year. Nobody here seems to care much.
0: http://www.paperplanes.de/2014/12/10/from-open-to-minimum-va...
I'd love that as a perk, even if it made someone else even more money. I care about me and my family, not how much someone else gets...
The turnover rate you quoted is undoubtedly overstated or at least out of date. As for getting fired within a month, it won't happen. People are generally let go for a repeated pattern of major failures, and I can elaborate here if necessary.
I work on an incredibly high performing team at Netflix and would consider myself to be one of the bottom percentile people on the team. I don't fear for my job, and I don't have to. I get amazing coworkers, and I learn a lot almost every day. I can really depend on my team.
I'll address a few criticisms I've seen in other comments:
Unlimited vacation: It's not BS. My manager recently told the team to take more vacation. I responded by letting him know that next week if be taking a month off. His response "just so we're both clear, you're telling me, not asking me, because I'd be really uncomfortable if you felt like you had to ask."
Performance: Coworkers are generally really high performers, people genuinely care, but the tendency to hire senior employees means a lot of family people, and there is work life balance. There is no "stack ranking" system in place and to my knowledge there never has been.
Unlimited stock contribution being a bonus for already rich employees: Really? Really?! I say this as someone who came in with a negative net worth and no cash flow. You're taking risk in exchange for potential reward with the stock plan. Those who are rich can afford to take more risk, and they are taking more risk by putting more in. Sure maybe not risk of ruin but there is financial risk. What's wrong with this? it's been lucrative, I was considered a "heavy contributor" by company standards but pretty light compared to some I talked to.
Expectations: You set and manage these for yourself. Sometimes you screw then up. This is sometimes a challenge for me, but it's entirely within my own influence. This quarter I set lower commitments and took the first month off. It hasn't been an issue.
Again, opinions are my own.
No, that's not how ESPP works. There is zero risk that they'll make less money than someone who takes it all as salary instead. It's a guaranteed significant increase in income.
> Unlimited stock contribution being a bonus for already rich employees: Really? Really?! I say this as someone who came in with a negative net worth and no cash flow.
Yes, really. Wealthier Netflix employees are paid more than you because they can afford to defer 100% of their comp for six months.
I wasn't asking really in terms of wether or not it was true, I'm asking really as in you somehow think this is some negative point against the company. I'm just not sure I understand how providing an opportunity to employees is a negative?
The wealthier Netflix employees who accept more risk than me are paid more than me, because they're in a position to accept more risk.
Also, would you say your experience matches those of people you know on other teams with other managers?
I'm told the only "fuck up" that will get you fired on the spot for the first occurrence is sexual harassment.
My experience is fairly consistent with others I know, there are of course a few exceptions. Though please do bear in mind I have a severe observation bias here. I interact with significantly more people that want to work at Netflix than I do those who don't.
PS - In almost every business I've ever encountered, people are a lot less godlike than you might perceive from an external view.
But we're a company that is more like a co-op than your typical startup, as in, we're weird. Good weird, but weird.
There isn't a stack rank system at all. Nothing like it in fact.
High turn over - more so in the customer service side of the business; not the engineering side.
Source: work at Netflix, interview a lot of engineering candidates, have thrown things at diab0lic.
[edit 1] Answering a few other questions:
Unlimited vacation - yup it's true and encouraged. Being unable to cash out 2-3 weeks of vacation isn't something I see as a big deal. I take more time off than that. My co-workers not my managers make me feel bad about it. Why? They're on vacation.
Work and work load - I choose much of what I work on. My job is to make things better at Netflix and I'm trusted to do so.
High salary - many other companies put some of your remuneration in RSUs, options, or other vehicles that may create future benefit. So you're gambling and you have to stick around to see if it pays off. Netflix pays you your salary in cash right now; no golden handcuffs in the form of vesting schedules or stock levels. (There is an optional options program)
Re: expectations about excess work. It's your own responsibility to set expectations about what you can get done and how quickly you can get it done. I was reasonably successful at this and took lots of time off the last year I was there, m wife had our first baby. Since I was able to set reasonable expectations I got a great raise that year, despite the time that I took off.
I panic whenever I read stuff like this. What is an under performer? How do I know if I'm one? How can it be expected that everyone in an environment is a spectacular code ninja that does utterly awesome stuff all the time?
it's not. you just have to find a range of tasks that you are able to perform at a high level at, and then make sure that your job is doing it, with confidence, day in and day out.
if the link in the other comment is true, it seems like their senior salary range is 200-300k/year. in that range, the excuses stop, and the results begin, or you're fired, have a nice life.
in the real world it actually begins at 100k but technology skews this figure much higher since basically anyone with a pulse and a keyboard can make 100k in this industry.
So shit like this is why so called performance management is bullshit. Performance is not doing what is in the best interest of the team or company. It is whatever is in the best interest for your manager.
Unsatisfyingly, his answer was, it depends on who you work for. They have a "Freedom and Performance" culture that I'm sure you have seen a slideshow PDF for, and my old manager said that to some people this means, "Get your shit done and work when / wherever you want", to others it means, "Categorically you must work 80 hours a week". Since he was of the former school, I got the impression he worked for someone from the latter school.
I didn't get an offer, so it was an easy choice. ;)
The calls themselves I don't mind so much, it's the stress of looking at your phone on a Saturday morning and seeing five messages "Hey are you awake?", "How about now? Time for a call?". Or messages at 9:30 at night, 2:00 in the morning, 8:00 AM. Instead of autonomy it's more a constant feeling of stress about work. Instead of freedom it ends up being prison.
I've let them know I'm moving on in two weeks to greener pastures. I'll have an office instead of working from home, and a schedule. The heirarchy won't be flat thus reducing the number of people I have to communicate with. Everyone will be based in my hometown meaning I won't be communicating over google hangouts which I am so looking forward to. And as an engineer I sort of really dislike meeting with clients and I'm glad I won't have to anymore. I can explain things to people, and I will willingly, but to have to explain technical concepts to the nontechnical frequently and over hours of hangouts is tiring, uninteresting, and frustrating.
Essentially, it's not for everyone. And that went a bit off topic, but beware the virtuous intention which paves your path to hell.
I wrote my impressions of six years at Netflix here: http://royrapoport.blogspot.com/2015/06/when-youre-having-fu...
> I don't have any intimate knowledge of
> Don't work there but friends in ops industry have
> I had a manager who
> Had a friend who worked at apple, went to netflix
Just to disagree with the hivemind here, at this point literally only one reply talks about actually working at Netflix personally and I would expect glassdoor, quora or linkedin to be a much better venue for this.
Your attitude aside, this sentiment is likely correct.
edit: 4 people showed up and are answering questions and being generous with their time. nvm, suck it Quora, HN it is.
