The "CTO" - Software Engineer HackerEarth Employee Review

Hi, it seems that due to some reasons I [CTO] have really offended you and you didn't have a good experience working at HackerEarth because of which you had to leave. I regret that things panned out that way. However, I would like to address some of the things that you have highlighted : 1. We are building the middle management layer right now and hiring strong EMs and VP of Eng. There is no manager in the team for engineers right now and all of them directly report to me. Being a manager myself, I am indeed responsible for setting the goals, running scrum meetings, reviewing progress every two weeks, and checking up on people how they are doing. I like to get out of engineer's way to let them work freely and everyone who works with me today can vet that. 2. I don't write code every day now, but that is something I love to do. Not writing code doesn't mean I have lost touch with technology if that has created the perception in your mind. Today, I actively run training sessions for new engineers, review code almost every day, advise engineers on architectural decisions, and still directly run the infrastructure team. Even as of today, I am 24/7 on-call for any engineering issue. 3. All the engineers know that they can work from home when they want to, even if there is no official policy for it. All the engineers know they can also take leaves freely and they are not interrogated on that. Of course, we expect that due process should be followed for taking leaves. 4. The new engineers in the team have taken a lot of responsibilities, they take up new initiatives every day, and they suggest new ideas which go to production quickly. 5. Some old engineers in the team have left because they were asked to leave as they couldn't grow as the company grew, doesn't mean that they are not competent but just that as companies grow some times the path of a company and the individuals can diverge.. Some old engineers are still leading the different teams today and some more have stepped up to lead the team going ahead. We have to have a high performing culture, but not at the cost of anything else. 6. Engineers are not supposed to work day & night. Most of the people have a very healthy work-life balance. Everyone sets their deadlines themselves and try to meet them. People go to the gym, play sports, go for hiking on weekends, plan regular team outings, and everything else required to have a good life. I am proud to say that all engineers in the team today are so honest and mature about their work and there has never been a better time to work at HackerEarth :)