1. A company suitable for retirement (if you’re not short of money and can tolerate certain people doing things in an absurd way)

2. The boss’s wife values the R&D and training departments most, so salaries in these two departments are a little higher than in other departments (but still the lowest in the industry)

3. The maximum employee travel subsidy is NT$13,000; it won’t be any higher

4. Colleagues and supervisors in some departments are fairly easy to get along with. Taking leave is relatively convenient in every department except Sales and Administration

1. The company is run by relatives and close associates of the owners, so its pace is slow and it cannot keep up with the times.

2. The starting salary and salary adjustment system are bizarre. The adjustment amounts are based on rates from ten years ago, and in a department of more than a dozen people, only one person will receive the maximum adjustment. Adjustments range from 300 to 1,000, which is very humiliating.

3. There are no clear criteria for promotion. Even if you are capable, you will be held back by the owners’ relatives and close associates. They always wait until talented employees are about to leave before trying to retain them, while still telling you that the company has a system and therefore cannot offer much. I really don’t know whether they genuinely want to retain people or simply think disposable employees are plentiful and there is nothing to worry about.

4. Basically, there is no opportunity to rise rapidly and become a supervisor here. Every department supervisor position has been firmly occupied for the past ten years and will not open up. Even when a vacancy appears, you still cannot get promoted (because someone from above will be parachuted in~).

5. Low pay—really, extremely low pay. A first-level specialist starts at only NT$24,000 (I’ve heard specialists in other departments start at NT$20,000). Given the salary adjustment system described above, I recommend coming here to coast toward retirement only if you are not short of money. Also, overtime here is compensated with time off in lieu, not overtime pay.

6. When joining, you are forced to sign an unreasonable contract; if you do not complete one year, money will be deducted.

7. There is a monthly meeting that constantly brainwashes you into believing this is an amazing education company, with amazing salaries, amazing colleagues, and an amazing work environment—as if the wind itself blows when you walk down the street. It really feels like a direct-selling business. Some supervisors and senior colleagues love this company as if they had been injected with morphine, but to employees who are underpaid and do not identify with the company, it simply feels disgusting. Two particular departments often take advantage of the boss’s wife favoring them and delay the work of other departments, or tell the designers to “use their psychic powers” first and then keep making changes until the end of time. They have no design sense yet insist on criticizing and directing the design work, claiming to respect professional expertise while trampling on it at the same time. However, the Design Department has no say in this company, so it can only swallow its tears and endure it.

8. To summarize the above, the Design Department is constantly bullied by other departments. If you want to improve or gain a sense of achievement, do not come here—you will only become increasingly insecure and feel that you are worth only this much.