* The executives who visit the India office will only get to see the 'amazing work culture' on display, but it is all stage managed. While the intent is to show a case of 'work hard, party harder', most of the teams are only doing the latter. Some Managers worry more about what food to eat and where, than worry about the career prospects of their engineers. I must have had just 3-4 1:1s with my Manager during my entire 2.5 year tenure there.
* The work culture is now mainly steeped in favoritisim and politics. HR is there just for show, it is the MD who runs the business. It is very easy to game the system there since all you need to do is to run crying to the MD and whatever you need will mostly happen, like salary hike, promotion, change in team etc..
* Most of us in the team did not have enough quality work. But that did not stop our Manager from bringing in more senior engineers ! It's almost like they are trying to see what other ways to while away time. I think I know what happened here - my Manager must have cried to the MD about lack of senior engineers in the team and the rest is history. I guess even Managers must have learnt to game the system now.
* Some people who left have been allowed to continue using the video conferenceing facility. But when I left, it was flatly refused stating company policy. It was probably my mistake that I went to my no use Manager instead of going to the MD.
* There are some people in senior management who are allowed to work part-time. This is unheard of in a startup in India. It's all because of the close relationship this person has with the MD than anything else. Word on the floor is that if you need anything from the senior management, route the request through this person
