Good - Senior Software Engineer aelf Employee Review

central location, nice pantry. that's it.

Senior management is erratic, indecisive, and temperamental. Strategic priorities shift multiple times a month, leaving teams constantly scrambling with no clear direction. Performance evaluation is entirely subjective. Whether you are praised or pushed out depends less on your output and more on whether leadership personally favors you. Merit is an afterthought. The culture is deeply toxic and gaslighting. Employees are set up with unclear or constantly moving expectations and then held accountable for not meeting them. Over the past few months, average new employee tenure has been roughly 1 to 3 months. Several hires didn't even last 1 month. The turnover is staggering and tells you everything you need to know about how this place operates. PS. Pay close attention to the dates on recent reviews. Older reviews may reflect a different era. The recent ones reflect the reality of how this company is run today.

Compensation at the point of offer was competitive and appeared attractive — though this quickly revealed itself to be unevenly distributed, favouring those with perceived "showmanship" over demonstrated skill.

- Strategy without substance: The company's direction shifts frequently, with little grounding in actual market research or user feedback. Teams are expected to go from ideation to production to measurable business impact in 1–2 weeks — an expectation that sounds bold but consistently sets people up to fail. - Opaque and politically driven appraisals: Performance reviews lack transparency. Advancement appears to be less about the quality of one's work and more about visibility, likability, and proximity to leadership. Those who play the game well get ahead; those who simply do good work are often overlooked. - Disproportionate influence of one individual: For such a small team, the volume of internal politics is remarkable. Much of it traces back to a single person who has, over time, pushed out a number of capable colleagues — seemingly whenever she perceived them as a threat. Leadership has either failed to notice or chosen to look the other way, and the team has paid the price. - Alarming turnover: High attrition has become the norm in recent months. It is not uncommon for people to leave — or be let go — within their first month. The shortest tenure witnessed was a single day. This is not coincidental; it reflects deeper structural and cultural problems. - Style rewarded over substance: There is a marked preference for those who can put on a compelling AI demo, regardless of whether the output is accurate, validated, or professionally sound. Individuals with the confidence to present — without the depth to back it up — are handsomely compensated and celebrated, while experienced, capable contributors are sidelined or driven out. This creates a culture that actively discourages rigour and rewards performance over expertise.