The Most Honest Review for Zettabyte - Software Developer ZettaByte Employee Review

- Great place to start your career if you want to gain experience and upskill quickly, but dont stay too long - Real learning opportunities especially in the early years, but not long - Colleagues are helpful and willing to assist when asked - Good tooling — Jira/YouTrack is a solid choice for task management - CTO is genuinely kind and supportive on a personal level

I'm writing this because I'm just so disappointed with how many things have unraveled at this company. Bear with me if you want to read this—it’s one of the most honest things I can say as a former employee. If you read this and know who I am, I am open to discussing constructive feedback to improve the company. However, I will only do so with the CTO, not the Deputy CTO. Otherwise, I won't have a fair chance to speak, as he will manipulate the meeting in his favor. The only reason I never said any of this before because I was tired of the overtime, daily yelling, and office politics, Even I started to doubt myself, was I wrong or right? which most of it are obviously wrong So here are my cons for this company and I hope you can improve it to make it better, later if you know who I am, feel free to have discussion. - Overtime is rarely formally recorded unless requested by senior management - The deputy CTO has become a significant source of dysfunction. While the actual CTO and CEO warned about cutting operational costs, the deputy CTO has acted unilaterally and aggressively — including pay cuts to senior engineers without proper alignment. He displays narcissistic behaviors: demands respect while showing none, lacks empathy for the impact of his decisions, and seems aware of his behavior but is oddly proud of it rather than reflective. He yells at staff daily, then asks "where is my respect?" while being fundamentally disrespectful. He knows his impact and doesn't care — he prioritizes his ego over team stability. This has triggered a wave of resignations from multiple senior staff members. As of now, the team is experiencing daily overtime with constant yelling, and morale is collapsing. - FET (extra time) hours are framed as learning but often used for actual work, with no overtime rate applied. While overtime compensation can remain unresolved for months or even years, any mistake or project delay on your end gets deducted from your paycheck immediately. The accountability only runs one way financially - Overtime compensation approval requires CTO and CEO sign-off — can take close to a year or remain unresolved - "Utilize AI" is an expectation with no real guidance or proper system access to support it - Reporting overhead is excessive — standup, 4x daily progress updates, and a separate timetable - Workload is consistently high pressure with no bandwidth to learn or improve - Not the first one to reach burnout and choose to leave - The offboarding process is questionable. Despite a 3 month notice period stated in the contract, anyone who resigns are often walked out the next day. It raises serious questions about how resignations are actually being handled - The platform itself has never been stable for years. Despite years of operation and investment, the core infrastructure remains fragile, with recurring issues that should have been resolved long ago. Technical debt is massive and keeps getting deferred while firefighting continues. - Office politics can work against you. When problems arise that involve multiple parties, blame tends to get redirected toward the effect on your end rather than the shared root cause. Those with more seniority or proximity to management tend to come out cleaner from the same situation - Trust is difficult to build here. Most of the team is closely tied to one key figure in management, making it hard to raise concerns openly without it circling back. Leadership style can be unpredictable — composed in some moments, disproportionately reactive in others — creating an environment where people manage up rather than speak honestly - Offboarding should honor the contract both ways. If the agreement says three months notice, that obligation belongs to both sides.

The only positive was the solidarity among peers and junior members who consistently back each other up.

- Aggressive & Ruthless Leadership: The Deputy CTO’s management style is centered on "scolding" and professional aggression. There is a lack of basic respect, with confrontational behavior being the norm rather than the exception. - Toxic Office Politics: The environment is heavily influenced by internal politics that reward compliance over performance. It creates a culture of fear where employees are constantly on edge. - Extreme Micromanagement: Leadership refuses to trust the expertise of the staff. Every minor detail is controlled and scrutinized, which stifles any form of creativity or operational efficiency. - Psychological Safety is Non-existent: Between the constant scolding and the ruthless approach to staff management, there is no room for mistakes or growth. This has directly led to high turnover and low morale across the board.