For a video game company, I was expecting an invigorating environment and a great team.
Maybe it was just the team(s) I was a part of, but there is no throughline culturally or communicatively; co-workers feel hostile(I only liked about 3 people on the multiple pillars that comprised the team and had to simply tolerate the rest), management is humorless and lead with fear rather than motivation, and overall everyone seems miserable and afraid.
I was hired as a junior, but they really just didn't have the budget to afford the specialist they actually wanted.
I was promised a learning environment with opportunity for growth.
What I got instead was an unfriendly and sometimes rude group of people, led by an exacting yet non-transparent manager. They say that when talking to a manager, you get the feeling they are important. A leader - you get the feeling you are important. This was very much the former.
The goalposts for satisfaction of performance change by the day, and you can never catch-up or receive any encouragement for just how much you do.
You just seem to always fall short, even when delivering exactly what was discussed.
It truly was a toxic work environment and I didn't realize until I left just how bad - and maybe even abusive - it was. I'm so grateful to be free from it.
