Workplace reviews and discussion: 巨鷗科技股份有限公司

I heard things have been quite lively here recently, so I came by to take a look and, while I’m at it, cheer on and say a few words for my former employer.

I’m a former employee who worked here for several years before leaving.

Based on my past experience and the information I currently have, I’d also like to share this with everyone and provide interviewees with a little more information to consider.

Pros

1. A strong sense of human warmth

I’ve seen many people feel that a “sense of human warmth” is something every company should have, or simply a given. I don’t actually agree. It may also be because the people leaving these comments haven’t worked for enough companies. Based on my own work experience, I genuinely liked this company because managers and colleagues at every level really treated you like family and sincerely cared about many things outside of work. I don’t think any of that was technically part of the managers’ responsibilities. Even after leaving, they would still offer their best wishes and stay in touch, and occasionally there would be gatherings. At least, I saw this much less often at other companies.

2. Emphasis on developing talent

It seems that some people have opinions about the courses, but I actually think the training this company provides is much better than that offered by most companies of a similar size. All of this represents the company investing in its employees. Each year, employees suggest topics they would like to learn, and the company then spends money to bring in instructors or send people out for training. Many companies don’t offer any courses at all, so how can the company be blamed for this in the end? Some courses are indeed scheduled on weekends, but that is also because they need to accommodate the availability of outside instructors who can come to Taichung. As for internal teaching and knowledge sharing, isn’t that one of an employee’s responsibilities? XD I haven’t worked at a company that didn’t require internal sharing. If such a company really exists, it probably means they don’t value you, right? They think you have no knowledge to share, don’t they?! Personally, I really enjoyed that kind of environment where everyone grew together. And often, when you are responsible for presenting a topic, you end up learning more than everyone else. I don’t remember whether you could count it toward your working hours, but is that really so important?

3. Many activities

It is true that there are many activities, but some people like them and some people hate them—that is a matter of personal choice. This should be mentioned during the interview, and even if it isn’t, job seekers can find out through various channels (such as the company’s Facebook page). If you understand the situation clearly and still choose to join, then there shouldn’t be much to complain about. As far as I know, the company has also worked hard to adjust things in recent years. There really were a lot of activities in the early days: a department had more than three activities a year, and sometimes there were activities every month or two each quarter. Later, the company gradually reduced them in response to everyone’s opinions. So now, having only three activities per department per year is actually very few. Activities held by other departments shouldn’t be counted, either—no one is forcing you to attend them. Personally, I benefited from these activities because many of them made life after work more interesting. If I had to plan everything myself, it would actually be more tiring. Isn’t it great that someone is now arranging everything for you?! I’m also grateful for the effort put in by the organizers of all those activities in the past. Another important point is that not every activity is mandatory. Many are clearly open for voluntary participation. Treating them all as one category and turning them into a disadvantage seems somewhat unreasonable to me. As for whether people are questioned about not attending, that’s difficult to say. At least, I never encountered it—perhaps because I always communicated properly.

4. A mechanism for co-creating proposals

It seems that many commenters discuss various systems or practices, but as far as I know, the company has always provided a proposal system (and probably still does). Employees can come up with ideas and submit suggestions, and once they are approved, there is even a bonus (although it isn’t very large). Some new systems were created this way. Personally, I have had one or two proposals accepted and implemented to make improvements. Society today really needs more constructive suggestions and fewer meaningless complaints and attacks. Based on my understanding, this company at least listens to serious suggestions from employees and discusses them. My experience of working with the company for many years tells me that this is not a company where one person has the final say.

Cons

1. Overtime pay

This is currently the most closely watched issue. Speaking as a former employee, I can confirm that things were indeed as the previous commenters described. I recently spoke with some former colleagues again and learned that the company had already planned this year to review and revise the system. It sounds like an announcement may be made soon, but don’t take my word as a guarantee. If this is something you care about, you can ask directly during the interview so you can better protect yourself.

2. High work pressure

It is also true that the work pressure is greater than at a typical company. This is because the company is quite competitive in the industry, and its competitors are not weak either, so naturally the team cannot be mediocre. Saying there is no pressure would be a lie. When I chose the company, half the reason was that I hadn’t thought that much about it, and the other half was that I wanted a bit of a challenge—that was why I joined Giant O. After several years of training and experience, I really did become stronger than I would have by staying at companies elsewhere. I once also helped a manager conduct interviews and saw people older than me, with more years of work experience, whose abilities were still only average. That made me feel that choosing this company had been the right decision. So if you want to join this company, think it through carefully. If what you want is a job with lots of money, little work, and a short commute, I would directly suggest that you choose another company. If you want to build up your abilities and track record, you can consider it.

3. Managers are sometimes too kind

When I saw people commenting about all the things wrong with the managers, I couldn’t offer the same opinion because the managers I worked with were all quite good, and I never experienced those things. However, there is one aspect that I do think caused me difficulties: the managers were too kind. When newcomers joined, they often gave them considerable patience and room to learn or make mistakes, but there was rarely an exit mechanism for dismissing poor performers. They would always first assume that there must be a way to help the employee improve. But in my experience, some people simply cannot grow. Sometimes this becomes misguided leniency and creates a burden for other employees. For example, some engineers had very poor abilities and learned very slowly, yet a great deal of time had to be spent teaching them just to produce basic functionality. Even after they finally produced it, there were usually still problems, requiring more time to fix them. As a result, the entire project schedule was seriously delayed, and experienced people had to step in and put out the fire. I once heard of an even more outrageous case: an engineer’s code was not only a mess, but also contained a bunch of profanity. Someone like that clearly has a problem with their character, right? Yet apparently they still weren’t fired. I heard that recently they even led others in coming back to attack the company (but that’s another story). It felt a bit like being bitten after helping someone. This is an area I think needs improvement.