Netflix! The good, the bad and the ugly! - werkgeversreview Senior Web Engineer bij Netflix

3,0
17 nov 2008
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Netflix is a place where you are surrounded by some really great minds. I wouldn't even say that SOME of the people are good while others somehow seemed to 'slip' in. If you aren't one of the best in your line of work, I don't think you'll ever get in the door here. I've been here for a number of years and have had the privilege to work with some extremely bright people. As an employee (and part of a team), its good to know that whatever you are working on is going to be top notch because of who is working on it. Netflix also encourages you to learn and explore new technologies and expand your own knowledge base. At past companies this was always a problem. If something didn't directly relate to what you were working on... well you had to make excuses and come up with reasons why you wanted to try something new. At Netflix, they not only encourage it but really urge you to try to broaden your own skill set. Our paid time off policy is not to be beat... Netflix has none! No two weeks a year or so many days off for personal/sick leave GARBAGE. Instead, you just tell your manager that you wanted to take three weeks off next month and he says, okay have a good time. We'll see ya when you get back! How cool is that? Its all about Movies for me. I used to think I was a bit if a movie buff. Yeah, that was until I worked here and met real movie buff's. Meetings are filled with references to movies. In one of the team meetings I go to every week, you can count the number of Ferris Bueller's day off lines. $$$ Show me the money. Netflix really does pay well! I left my old job doing the EXACT same thing I do here.. the only difference is, I make X2 as much! I'd like to write more, but those reasons alone are pretty good.

Minpunten

When I first started, the head of HR said "Netflix is a high performance environment." Often, I feel like they have confused "high pressure" with "high performance", and believe me, there is a difference. Sometimes I feel like they overly eggagerate the importance of SOME features. I mean, no one is going to die on the table here guys.. its just a movie rental company. Our medical/health benefits are mediocre at best and HR doesn't seem to care that the majority of employees are totally dissatisfied with the offerings. After constant employee complaints on how high our benefit prices are, HR comes back with even higher prices this year while having even less coverage. I'm not buying the line they fed us either "benefits are more expensive everywhere across the country." Whatever.. if I gave that as an excuse why I didn't get a project completed on time, I'd be "talked to". Every year, we have this total JOKE of a per review process (360 reviews). You HAVE to rate your peers and get ratings back from the people you asked to rate you. From my experience, its totally pointless and a huge waste of time / energy across the company. If we spent even a quarter of the time and money it takes to run, manage, and maintain this 360 review process, we'd have double the amount of movies in our Watch Instantly offering. Don't come here thinking you'll rise through the ranks! That just doesn't happen here. Yes, there are a few people who have started out as individual contributors and risen to the higher ranks but for the most part, I've watched very talented people leave Netflix to get management positions else where and Netflix doesn't really care. When you accept a job here, it will most likely be in the same position for the rest of your time at Netflix. There is also a very big brother feel here.. Netflix HR is watching you. But maybe that's just me! People seem to 'disappear' sometimes!

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5,0
16 mei 2026
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Easy to apply online with a resume

Minpunten

Takes a long time for a response

3,0
20 sep 2018
Anonieme werknemer
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- Paycheck - So many good people - Such a great service - Hope

Minpunten

I have been working for a year at Netflix. I've seen what was supposed to be very mature people, sharing absolutely almost no contact that anyone would qualify as "human". Sure, that sounds hyperbolic, let me develop (and maybe cherry-pick a little). Have you heard about our culture? The one about giving candid feedback? - I have seen people complaining of behavior they literally demonstrated themselves in the following days. But I have also seen these feedbacks resulting in tears both in the eyes of HR persons or fellow engineers. How human does that sound? Have you heard about our culture? The one about not tolerating brilliant jerks? I have nonetheless seen angriness and frustration, expressed in private, public and meeting. People rejecting new ideas by default, like, any ideas they wouldn't have worked themselves on for days wouldn't count. Even if those ideas are from the best examples in the industry or academics. How many publications/contributions have you seen from Netflix to computer science in general? How does it compare against any other company of that size in the Bay Area? Can you imagine either the real insecurity (x)or the lack of innovation that could lead to this situation? Except for a few managers, directors or VPs feeling free enough to behave at work in the same way than how they live, almost every engineer I have been interacting with, have shared as little as possible about their private life. The rare exceptions of interpersonal exchange ends up around some sort of competitive behavior: Who is the most geeky, sportive, owns the fastest car/biggest house/visited the strangest place. I've heard workaholic people complaining about ambitious peers who were over-managing, over-working to get even more work to do after. I feel like we're past workaholism at this point. Maybe there are a lot of shy people! Maybe there is a culture of fear, not only of being fired, but also a fear of interacting with people going to be fired. Maybe it's all in my head, maybe people giving 5 stars to their experience here don't care the human aspect of a company. And maybe they're right. What about your crush, your fears, your desires for the future, your appetite for life? I've been blessed to work in enough large companies to know that the behavior that I'm seeing in Netflix is not a healthy one. I've also been lucky enough to work in other industries more socializing than tech and I can tell that Netflix has a lot to do on that side, and off-sites or team meeting won't solve that problem. I am afraid about the tragic, but inevitable consequences of the ways people operate in this company: I guess that the day the worst will happen, it will be addressed in an impersonal memo by Reed; followed-up by 1 or 2 reminders during offsites. Possibly commented by HR in a Q&A document. And move on. This company seems as reactive in its management of people as it is proactive in its business operations. I still work at Netflix though, not only for the paycheck, but because I hope. I hope it will change. The needed change can't happen from a candid feedback, a Q&A, or only from inside. Change has to come from everyone, including people who take time to read comments like this one. Netflix has so many good people and offers such a great service. As a curious Netflix employee reading this review: think about your past, isn't there a big human thing that you would love to feel again in your current company that you've felt in the past? As a candidate: think about what would be a good question to ask to that HR partner once your package is almost here to be offered to you, think about that comment you make at the end of an interview when you're being asked by an engineer: "Do you have any question for me?" What Netflix needs is an inception, something that anyone and everyone would think about after leaving the call or the room they were sharing with you. Ask yourself, and then the others, the question you should ask if you think you want to spend a good amount of your life and energy in the place you're applying for. - Will I learn and contribute to the knowledge of other's? Even outside the company? - Will I see emotional responses from my peers? Will that be for other reasons than being fired or bluntly criticized? - Will I find a friendly environment that will nurture my appetite for life? - What is the amount of emotional interaction (celebrating, sharing, playing) to expect from a company whose service is the best to "entertain"? - Do androids dream of electric sheep?

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