Ookla reviews

Company was in a position with a ton of potential but kind of sat there playing internal politics. Ziff finally woke up and is taking action.

The not so bright side of recent leadership changes is decreased openness, and increased secrecy. Layoffs are treated as something normal and a threat to force more productivity from workers, which they were not before. The historical problems of the engineering department have continued or gotten worse. A few engineers get to take on all the interesting work, and everyone else is treated as machines to crank out code. This creates a culture of scarcity and territorialism instead of collaboration. The promotion and pay raise criteria is opaque. Career growth is often actively hindered by leadership. I remember once asking for the company to pay for my ticket to a work conference so I could improve my skills, and was told I didn't contribute enough to justify it. Attempts to grow skills outside of your predefined role are treated as a problem instead of something to be cultivated. Bullying and condescending behavior are the norm for leadership, and the increased pressure for productivity by the new leadership team has only made this worse.