Netflix Reviews

Pros

Good salary (but even though u get few thousand more..it is not worth it)

Cons

Interview process sucks..Reason I mention is that they take lot of pride in mentioning that if you are not star performer you may be shown the door.
My point is that if you can make good hiring process then you should not be talking about it in an interview. HR is given unreasonable super power and they try to act as super smart for no reason.

They claim to give higher salaries as opposed to other bay area companies but that amount is nothing if you really compare with other companies. I think any company which relies too much on HR for scaring candidates and keeping them in loop regarding performance of candidates is not a good company for engineers and that company is not the most coveted in bay area.

People are hard working but they are certainly not the smartest. Some are smart as in any other company so I dont understand why they create so much of hooplah.

Pros

Free monthly subscription. Good money but daily multiple firings are reminders of why Unions exist.

Cons

Upper management is not not consistent. For every one good Manager....you have 3 horrible ones. Not very good odds. :(

Advice to Senior Management

Fix your issues...don't just fire everyone that does not fit to your company mold. You would be amazed at how many different ways there are to accomplish a task.

Pros

-fun work environment (IF you have a good team, and manager)
-good location

Cons

-high stress
-high turnover
-no communication between ops and CSR's when new things are launched
-constant fear of doing something wrong
-there is no way that we can 'relate', 'assure', make the customer feel good, and fix their issue in under 4 minutes and 30 seconds (and get a Yes response 95.5% of the time)

Advice to Senior Management

Better communication about new NRD's or other things being launched.

Pros

Great Pay. Excellent Benefits. Smart, hardworking teammates. Opportunities to excel, be creative, be strategic. Managers are all excellent at managing their people, especially if you are a top performer they are hands off and supportive.

Cons

To be honest, I loved pretty much every day up until I was let go based off a rumor. The biggest problem is that in order to be successful at in the call center you have to "drink the Kool Aid." Which in all honesty I was happy to do, I got to work with some really rad people, and do really great work that I'm proud of. However, karma is, well you know karma is, and I let go of a lot of people that probably felt like it wasn't fair, and eventually the same thing happened to me. Loyalty to employees is not one of their strong suits.

Advice to Senior Management

Honestly have the greatest respect for the management in terms of their abilities to do their jobs. I do however wonder in retrospect if the running of something as a team instead of a family is always the best way to do something. But then, perhaps it is.

Pros

A go-go place that is well-run and exciting. Until the recent blowback on pricing, it was (and still is) a great place that everyone recognizes. Engaging, valuable projects were constantly being pursued. Really loved the Marketing team and the relationship with the other departments!

Cons

Not for the faint of heart. If you seek a place to hide, you won't last long here. Other than that, it is hard to not have loved working for a company that has great products and management.

Advice to Senior Management

Love your vacation and sick leave policy, no limits based on the work you achieve. I am not certain if they can keep it up as they get bigger, but hope you can!

Pros

Extremely creative engineers and products. Interesting and fun business. Exciting opportunities for access to entertainment. Exceptionally bright senior management. This company can really grow and be very successful.

Cons

Everyone is afraid to make a mistake or be perceived as making a mistake. Sr. management is constantly questioning new managers opinions and judgement. If one wants to be successful at Netflix do exactly as your told. Not allowed to have a new idea or different opinion. Netflix management hides behind values that don't exist.

Advice to Senior Management

Netflix is an excellent example of the Delta House fraternity in Animal House. Maybe it is time for new managers, and running the company like a business instead of a fraternity. Being "in" is not always the best way to grow a business.

Pros

The people all tend to be very bright, talented and hard working. There is almost no deadwood.

Historically, everyone made decisions based on the good of the company as a whole instead of what is good for their own teams. The atmosphere was one of mutual respect. Everyone knew everyone. As the company grows it feels like that closeness, respect and shared purpose is getting lost.

Still, it is a good place to work in many ways. The folks at the top are the best I've ever worked for. In the engineering departments, everyone in management all the way up to the CEO is very technical. You can explain anything to any of them without their eyes glazing over.

The fast pace means that you never get bored. There is always some new, interesting challenge.

In the nice to have category, they have free lunches. Many people complain about them, but I always thought they were pretty good. They'll all provided by the same vendor though, so it's easy to get tired of them. The buildings are nice enough. It is easy to get whatever hardware, software, or gadget you think you need. Top-end Mac or Thinkpad with a giant display? An extra desktop or two? Whatever, just put in a ticket and you'll have it in a couple of days or sooner. Need some nice servers for your project? A couple hundred cloud instances? It's all available with minimal fuss.

Cons

When it comes to people, Netflix is a throw away culture. Most people last somewhere around two years before they leave or quit. There seems to be no barriers to stop a manager from firing anyone that works for them. If your manager likes you, everything is peachy but if s/he doesn't like you for any reason at all, you're quickly out the door.

A lot of time gets wasted by new people trying to figure out how a thing works, or (more often) just ripping it out and creating something new since whoever built it is long gone. Then these new people move on to the next company and the cycle starts again.

The "high performance culture" in practice means that there are very few useless people. The downside is that you always know that your job is temporary and you're always worried that you'll be fired. It's a stressful way to live.

Netflix prides itself on being a "nimble" company. It will occasionally do amazing things in a very short time period. Deadlines can be crazy and they often don't take into account other work that needs to be done. Projects don't replace the workload you already have, they just add to it. Many times you'll deliver on a deadline only to find out that the work was unnecessary as someone decided to completely change the architecture or cancel the project completely.

Everyone is assumed to be available 24x7x365. Email is sent and replied to at all hours of all days and nights. You can never let go of work.

Lastly, the company philosophy is to pay employees and let them decide what to do with the money, so there aren't a ton of perqs for working there. Benefits are okay but not great. No real gym membership, onsite masseuses or anything fancy. The whole company used to go to Sundance every year (payed for by Netflix) but they stopped that some years ago.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a price to pay for treating employees as easily replaceable commodities. The lack of process and documentation coupled with high turnover means that once a person has been there long enough to understand the environment, it's time to go.

Netflix goes to a lot of trouble to hire great people. It puts very little effort into keeping them. Employees live with a lot of stress and some fear knowing that they could be fired at any time no matter how hard they work, no matter how long they worked there, and no matter what they accomplished for the company.

Putting a little effort into retaining good employees will make for a happier workforce and more efficiency.

Pros

Fast paced, benefits great, work with some really talented people, a company that everybody loves, pay above the norm,

Cons

You are always on the tightrope...if you have a supportive boss, you are okay, but if you have the wrong boss, you can and will be fired if you don't "fit" the "vision"....forces a compliance mentality and stifles some really great people from doing even more.

Advice to Senior Management

You need to figure out a way to deal with the issue of termination/turnover...turnover has more impact than you believe or understand..have seen too many people get promoted or hired and then fired within a short period of time...need to do a check of how you make selections...if the same manager promotes/hires people and then turns around and fires them quickly, don't you think that selecting manager needs to have some accountability as well?

Pros

Free Easy Mac, Tea, Oatmeal & Cup O Noodles
Free Netflix Subscription

Cons

The people working here are so ridiculous and the trainer is straight from Sesame Street.

I knew one of the first 6 people to open the center, and she had been laid off over a year prior to when I started. She had some horror stories, but I thought the pay would overshadow any hint of doubt I had.

I made them aware of the fact that I was in school [college, obviously] prior to being invited to the interview, and they said that was fine & they'd work with me (I found out later that this is a complete lie). I went through training and everything with positive feedback. Only after that did it become an issue, and I was constantly pulled aside and berated. I am not going to quit school to slave away at a job that will last less than a year. They pulled me into random rooms around the call center and told me my "internet browsing privileges were being taken away during my breaks," because I looked up Netflix reviews. I was told that my face looked "sad and depressed." Well, of course it was after you pulled me into a room 3 times in one day trying to make me feel bad about going to school.

They expect you to talk to 85-year-olds with Alzheimers that can't even remember their email address, let alone their name, and help them fix whatever issue they have in less than 5 minutes.

Why is there free food? Why are there showers here? Why are there laptops for you to use? Because they want you to eat, sleep and breathe Netflix.

Advice to Senior Management

People are human. Netflix has no human aspect to it.
When I first started, everyone there was worried about their job, although most of them were recently promoted. That's horrible. Start investing in people so you don't waste money on training.

Don't say things that can bring a lawsuit to your door.

Don't hire people in school.

Don't expect newly trained employees to know all of the answers when your trainers don't even know the answers.

Pros

Great resume builder. Lots of strategy and information-sharing with all employees.

Cons

Extremely high involuntary (and voluntary) turnover that puts everyone on edge and lowers morale; people are afraid they might say/do one undesirable thing and get fired. People are very afraid of making any mistakes for fear of being fired bacause it happens so often and people often do not get a second chance.