Atlassian Employee Reviews about "growing pains"

Pros

The company cares deeply about the culture and development of it's employees. Nowhere is perfect, but Atlassian is closer than almost everyone else.

Cons

Have struggled with growing pains once they passed 2000 people and added their fourth large office. Many people were asked to move offices internationally to keep their jobs recently, which some people loved and some people hated.

Pros

The work experience team put a great deal of effort into making Atlassian a nice place to work and to look attractive from the outside to promote the Atlassian brand and help attract talent. Events, free food, free drinks, free bar, social atmosphere Aeon chairs, standup desks for the `startup` image Atlassian has a high barrier for entry and have some very talented people working for them. On the right team the experience can be amazing. On joining Atlassian I worked on the best team of 10 years in software development.

Cons

After IPO Atlassian has changed significantly. 2 years ago there where 500-700 members of staff, now 1700+. Heavy recruitment, reorganisation, re-prioritisation, shareholders to answer to, there is a great deal of growing pain. It’s no longer the small company it once was but not at the larger company maturity level in regards to HR / management. Internal mobility is non existent. There’s significant growing pains and power / self protection struggles by managers who have time earnt their way to positions rather than being trained in management. In the 10 years I spent in software development I had my best experiences at Atlassian. With that it’s extremely disappointing and sad to say my last 12 months at Atlassian has also been the worst and most stressful. An extremely strong team I worked on who were delivering was split up, partly because of reorganisation and skills needed elsewhere, mainly as the technology we were using no longer fitted in to the new `Tech Radar` and immediate management wanted to water down the strongobjections by bringing in people who advocated the new `Tech Radar` stack...Nodejs, Springboot (only Springboot with Java) and Go. I watched a good team turn toxic, one painful memory, all members sat with heads down in a PR review when the dev manager crossed lines through valid team PR feedback after a colleague elsewhere in the company brought on to make our project more `Spring` like. On node.js projects any comments on Javascript where taken as attacks against the manager, PR comments watched, hipchat messages watched only to be raised in 1 and 1’s. Team members played against each other and micromanaged to fit the new `Tech radar`. I watched a good colleague put on performance review for use of Java 8 Lambda’s which looked to functional for the `Tech stack` before he subsequently resigned or debatably constructively dismissed. The IPO has lead to new large critical projects putting pressure on inexperienced management who have been at the company a long time working their way up. This has then been put down on to developers, decisions based on time, appearance of delivering and ability to recruit. It somewhat changed from a collaborative “we hire smart people atmosphere to tell us what to do not to tell them what to do” to bodies of developers micromanaged as a workhouse. Pick the right team and if the current `Tech stack` attracts you, you will have a fantastic experience at Atlassian. Hit the wrong team or if the company decides to switch again you are collateral damage and it’s hard to move internally with outside staff favored for roles due to recruiting targets. Developers raising concerns were noted as being `salty`, `a religious small minority` by the recently appointed CTO and founders. The same people raising concerns where some of the strongest most talented engineers who cared strongly about the work and quality of work they were doing. Other downsides are sometimes you are lead to feel like you should feel privileged working for Atlassian. Mandatory on call was introduced putting significant restrictions on movement and activities in personal / family time. It was non-negotiable, significant change to current duty, roles and contract with very poor compensation. Trying to discuss the new requirement was returned with `it’s mandatory`, `take one for the team, Atlassian give you free food`. For people being relocated overseas Atlassian only offered help in the form of cash which was fair in the sense it covered flights and shipping and initial hotel costs but you won’t have much if any left. The fee is taxed quite heavily, it can also hang over you with the crawlback clause it you are no longer enjoying your time at the company within the period set out. Atlassian could help out better on the relocation assisting in advice for people new to Australia such as the property market, banking, utilities, tax, day to day stuff you need to set up on arriving to Australia but may not be familiar with when you get here and start work.

Pros

Freedom as long as results are measurable. Yes mentality. Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness The values are great and lived by. Exceptional perks, good food, ice cream, yoga, fix your bike, towel service, etc.

Cons

Growing pains, still an immature enterprise, going corporate but want to retain the startup spirit, upcoming IPO in many peoples mind seems to detract from true objectives

Pros

Atlassian's product suite offer so many opportunities for PM's, specially as the company is investing to become cloud first & solutions oriented to meet our customer needs. The unique business model, low-touch sales, places special emphasis on building a great product, which is great for PM's.

Cons

Growing pains, like any other company.

Pros

This company is growing so quickly, and there is a ton to do! There are so many challenges for you to solve, some of the biggest challenges you can solve in a career. And that makes it exciting. But what's even better is that Atlassian really gives its employees the room to solve those tough challenges. More than any company I've ever been at, Atlassian tries really hard to take all of the pressures that might prevent you from being effective. From the benefits, to the food, to the healthcare, the pay, etc. It's an amazing experience. The employees are some of the smartest people I've ever worked with, and it's an absolute pleasure to come to work every single day. Of course, this could be a "new job honeymoon" - but every one I talk to, who's been here for many years, feels the exact same way still. Everyone is working really hard - and don't get me wrong, it's not like we're all putting in 10 hour days, every day, or anything. But it's when we are working, we're working hard, intelligently, fast, effective, and efficient. And the best part of the business? our company values (look them up) - we live and breathe them every day.

Cons

Growing pains. Another pro of Atlassian is we're always trying to disrupt ourselves, before our competitors do. But, that can sometimes cause maybe some confusion, or disconnect, or have a lack of clarity - but, that's okay. Because if we didn't do it to ourselves, our competitors would. I want to address one "con" I've seen in other reviews - and that's the pay. I think the pay is "fair" or "average" for the bay area. But what you have to really look at is the total compensation (normally I wouldn't say this, but this time I do). The free food, the free healthcare, the stocks, the health stipend, the commuter benefits, etc...

Pros

Lots of flexibility, ownership and autonomy. Great working relationships - Atlassian employs some of the smartest, most empathetic people I've ever worked with. I have grown more here than the rest of my career combined, and have more trust and autonomy to get things done than I ever have before.

Cons

There are constant changes and the burnout can be high because of hyper growth - all companies in this stage go through growing pains.