- Too much ignorant, unmotivated middle management - often unprofessional - dragging teams down and killing morale
- Compensation is weak, and the rare increases are small. Leadership keeps deflecting with “market conditions” and repeat “just wait”
- There’s a lot to study, but not many real chances to apply what you learn
- They seem to take almost anyone, and later the lack of professionalism shows up and hurts engineers’ day-to-day
- Work-life balance is preached, but when deadlines hit, it’s treated as optional
- Bureaucracy grows: new processes and metrics keep appearing with little connection to actual project needs