No growth, toxic environment - Software Developer KBC Employee Review

1.0
May 16, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The code base is easy to work with, readable and maintainable. Almost no crunch/overtime.

Cons

For the Touch project: Code reviews are used for hammer down anyone the reviewer doesn't like. If the reviewer wants to hurt your career, he just has to write 400 comments in your pull request and make it so that it takes 10x longer for you to deliver. Drive-by comments on reviews are common. Specially coming from the God developers that look down on the rest. God developers are a couple of developers that have been there since the beginning of the project and have gathered so much political clout that they might as well be the owners of the company. Everything is super hierarchical. They even have documents on confluence describing the development structure as an army; With soldiers at the bottom, lieutenants, generals, etc, Career progression is almost non existent unless you play the political game. The usual progression is developer->functional analyst->manager. The only opinion that matters is that of the God Developers. A lot of them are part of the Core Team. You will be just a cog in a very dumb machine. No innovation going on at all. The work is brain-dead boring. Leaving the project Touch, to do something else is considered some sort of promotion. That's sad.

Explore other reviews about KBC

5.0
Sep 24, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great learning experience and mentorship

Cons

Not enough pay for the hours to be sustainable

4.0
Jan 5, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

KBC takes good care of its employees. The benefits and compensation packages are generous overall. A lot of experienced people to learn from. Great retention rate. A lot of people have lasted over 20 years, or started their careers and retired at KBC.

Cons

Vertical career moves are limited, especially at the international branches. Lateral moves and addition cross-functional responsibilities are more frequent, however. This is quite possibly due to career longevity and retention rate. If you are in an urgent pickle at an international branch and need immediate assistance from someone in Belgium past 5PM over there, best of lucks. Figuring out who's on call is often akin to searching a needle through a haystack. Mostly data-driven decision making is centralized in Belgium. With geographical distance, that can create an occasional disconnect with local contexts and considerations at international branches that don't necessarily make it into the data stack.

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