I was subjected to the dreaded Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) after just 7 months at the company, then was let go a month later. Quarterly reviews are nice to gauge your standing, but I never realized how quickly you could be cut loose if you don't meet expectations in your first 2 quarters.
How did that happen so fast? Because my team was all about fast: speed was their primary focus; I was expected to code fast, and I simply wasn't fast enough. (Never mind the fact that I delivered almost zero bugs while I was there...) I never got an explanation as to WHY speed was so important, either. There were no deadlines, no imminent sales demos, nothing I could see that would demand such speed. As far as I could tell, it was all about being fast for fast's sake; in other words, bragging rights.
What was most upsetting was that I was a remote employee, and I had no direct management guidance or mentoring during my tenure. I was just expected to know how to do everything, and if I didn't know, learn quickly. I wasn't quick enough.
The atmosphere felt very unsafe. I didn't feel like I could fail, because the failures would simply be recorded and used against me in the next review. I didn't feel like I could ask for help because it would just highlight that I wasn't up to par with their standards. I was very much on my own, and for a remote employee, this is death; there is no chance for success.
I honestly question the monetary decision of investing so much money in hiring a software engineer only to let them go less than a year later, especially without any mentoring. Even after my managers realized I didn't know as much as they thought I did, they didn't see any reason to grow me into the role. When you make billions of dollars a year, I guess you can do that.
My advice to future Indeed software engineers: know your stuff before you sign on with Indeed. You won't last long if you think they'll help you ramp up.
