Pros
Nice views from The Shard
Cons
The company presents an idealised version of itself during interviews - promising modern practices, supportive culture, and technical excellence - but the reality is starkly different. Much of what is said turns out to be exaggerated or outright false. From team structure to ways of working, to flexibility and growth opportunities - what you’re told during recruitment does not match what you experience once you’re hired. Toxic, stuck-up, and often incompetent management sets the tone. Micromanagement is rampant, and snitching is normalised. The atmosphere is cold, unwelcoming, and riddled with fear - no collaboration, no transparency, and no meaningful communication. Planning is non-existent, decisions are made behind closed doors, and asking for help is seen as weakness. Agile practices are nonexistent; instead, outdated top-down control dominates - an absolute nightmare for any engineer. Working for TV feels like stepping 30 years back into a post-Soviet-era office. Important detail TV fails to mention is that virtually everything is in Russian language, including documentation and communication and that vast majority of technical staff, including management is Russian based and barely speaks basic English. There is also little sign of any momentum behind changing this and support for English only colleagues is non-existent. The infrastructure is a bloated, undocumented mess full of classic anti-patterns. You’ll spend most of your time fixing inherited mistakes before you even touch your actual assignments. There’s no onboarding or guidance, and little interest in quality or long-term stability. HR, based in Russia, is ineffective and provides little support or recourse for employees. Social interaction is nearly nonexistent. The office is cramped, with no meeting spaces or quiet zones. People don’t talk, there’s no team cohesion, and the vibe is flat-out dull. It’s a rigid, clock-watching culture where remote (hybrid) work is unofficially discouraged, despite being theoretically allowed. The salary is average, and the benefits are effectively nonexistent - your paycheck is all you’ll get.
