阿爾法數位有限公司

1. Working hours are 10:00–18:00, including lunchtime, and you can eat whenever you want.

2. There is no clocking in, and no salary deductions for being late. If you arrive extremely late, you can simply take the day off.

3. There is a lot of leave. There are several days of paid sick leave per year, plus two “happiness days,” which coworkers all use to go on dates with their girlfriends XD

It’s really hard to find a job where you get 15 days of annual leave after working for one year (5 days after six months, 10 days after one year, then increasing by 2 days each year...)

4. If the boss thinks you qualify, they will adjust your salary readily. There are also quite a few project and performance bonuses.

5. There is none of the red tape found at large companies, and coworkers are easy to get along with. We usually play music at work; sometimes, though, the coworkers’ laughter can feel a little loud = =

6. The company is small, so there are no issues with office politics.

1. Snacks and drinks are available to eat at any time, and there is also a coffee machine and fresh milk. There is afternoon tea every week and a group meal every month, so it is easy to gain weight if you lack self-control = =

2. Since it is a small company, each person may have greater responsibility and more projects to handle—doing everything under the sun, just short of changing diapers (just kidding).

3. There is no overtime pay, but opportunities to work overtime are genuinely very rare. This really depends on the individual: as long as you finish the work that is your responsibility, no one will say anything about when you arrive or leave.

4. Policies at a startup can easily be changed again and again. People who are comfortable with a rapidly changing environment can accept this; those who are not may wonder why things have to keep changing.

[Thoughts]

I am indeed a current employee, but I did not receive any benefits from the boss in exchange for writing this post.

I happened to pass by and see this. I am not trying to start a flame war; I am just sharing my own experience....

It has also been a year since I joined.

After all, no company or boss is perfect, and neither are employees.

It’s probably the same as finding a partner, haha.

If it suits you, it suits you; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Even at the worst companies, some people stay for 20 years.

Even at the best companies, some people quit after just one week.

As for the disputes in the earlier comments, they may have existed in the past!? But I have not felt them since joining.

I heard that before I joined, several people left, and when one person from a small group left, they asked the others to leave too (?!).

So I’m not sure whether the company has essentially started over from scratch?

As far as I know, only one or two senior engineers responsible for the main system currently handle on-call duties.

And this is only assigned to people who have discussed the conditions with the boss and found them acceptable.

The entire platform and system have now also been significantly revamped. In principle, I think the concerns mentioned in the earlier comments no longer apply....

There are many opportunities to speak with the boss face-to-face. If you have an opinion, you can discuss and negotiate it; it just depends on whether you are willing to talk.

At a large company, would the boss even know who you are?!

Oh, right—the boss said during a conversation that he has changed his temper a lot now (?!).

At least from what I have seen, apart from people with performance issues, everyone else seems to get along with the boss without any unpleasantness. I have never seen anyone get harshly berated to their face.

[Conclusion]

For a startup, the salary and benefits are genuinely quite good.

If you have the ability, you can come and interview.

After all, there are not many people here, and I’m starting to get a little tired of seeing the same coworkers, haha.

1. A gambling company with flexible working hours, no clocking in/out, and short hours of 10:00–18:00 (including lunch break); taking leave is almost never deducted from your salary

2. Good salary and benefits

    - Front-end engineers start at 47k/month with two years of experience, and 52k/month with five years

    - Senior PHP engineers: 70k/month

    - Engineering managers: 80k/month

    ~ Salaries above 42k are uniformly insured at 42k

    ~ Year-end bonus: one month after one year, two months after two years, and so on

3. Salary adjustments are straightforward: deliver results and you get a raise

4. It is a new company, so its systems, policies, and benefits can all be changed. The earlier you join, the better the terms you can negotiate. The boss says the first 20 employees are all core members, so you can take a chance and see whether the company grows and flourishes later

5. As long as you can convince the boss, you estimate your own schedule and choose whatever tools you want. Just make sure you stick to the schedule after estimating it!

6. The boss speaks very directly and is a typical bully who picks on the weak and backs down before the strong. People who are too easygoing and have an overly submissive attitude definitely should not go!

7. The boss likes employees who have ideals and ambitions and do not care about money. In the interview, remember to emphasize that what you need is a stage on which to show your talents, not that you are there for the money

8. The future plan sounds beautiful: build a system where customers can select their requirements, click a few options, and have Amazon generate a gambling platform. Once the company grows, you will be part of the senior core team. The pie is huge; whether you get to eat it depends on whether you personally buy into it

1. You are responsible for the work; there is no overtime pay, and on-call work does not come with compensatory time off. You are responsible for whatever you deploy yourself, and the boss will keep calling you on Skype to get you to go online and handle issues, so you need to write your code properly. Backend engineers handle development and testing themselves; it is best if you can also do frontend work, and you are expected to work with Amazon and CDNs too. The boss wants you to be as versatile as possible

2. In the boss’s mind, working hours include holidays. No matter how you estimate your schedule, the boss will use all kinds of threats and incentives to pressure you to be faster and even faster, cutting three weeks down to two to create your infinite possibilities. Once, on the first day of work after the Lunar New Year holiday, he fired an employee who had been with the company for three weeks because the project had not progressed during the holiday

3. The boss’s decisions change from one day to the next: what he says today differs from yesterday, and what he says in the morning differs from the afternoon

ex. The year-end bonus was originally calculated based on base salary, but later changed to be calculated based on the minimum salary

ex. Originally, there were three performance reviews and three salary adjustments each year; later this was changed to two

ex. He told you the company would not call you after 7 p.m., then changed it to 10 p.m. the next day; in reality, it is midnight

ex. During the interview, he said a Mac would be provided, but after you joined, the Mac was still nowhere to be seen. He originally told procurement to buy Apple lunch boxes, but when someone submitted a resignation, he urgently called procurement and told them to return the items

ex. During the interview, he said the company would develop a completely new system to sell, but after you joined, he asked you to modify a vendor’s system and sell it

ex. He said engineers with any salary level would be acceptable, but after hiring someone with an annual salary of 1 million, he felt the person was too expensive. After rejecting the candidate, he still could not stop thinking about them

ex. He told you he regarded you as one of his own, but after you devoted yourself fully, you turned around and became “an employee who can be retained with money”

ex. When discussing outsourcing, he said there was no upper limit on costs; after receiving the quote, he simply stopped responding

ex. Project and work plans are also frequently changed: today he says to do this first, and tomorrow he changes it to that

It is a new company, after all, so its systems and policies are not mature yet. Constant changes are therefore normal; just do not take the boss’s words too seriously

4. The boss’s true thoughts

“Engineers will come if you throw money at them” — something he always says

“Work is about mutual exploitation; if someone is unsuitable, fire them” — blurted out in front of a new employee on their second day

“My company makes no difference without you” — whenever a new employee arrives, the boss taunts the old employees

In addition, he tells new employees that the old employees are “engineers who can be retained with money”

Also, if you introduce a friend for an interview, the boss will cheerfully tell them that you are cheap and useful. How honest of this boss!

“JobAmazement is written by employees who want revenge. I do not want employees who read JobAmazement and then refuse to come to Alpha either.” — What the boss said when someone rejected an interview based on negative reviews on JobAmazement. Yet while saying he did not care, he kept complaining to the shareholders that the company was being smeared, and even found lawyers and connections to deal with JobAmazement. In the end, he planned to shut down Alpha and reopen as a new company!

There are countless other statements in a similar style; you can experience them for yourself after joining

5. There are many promises that sound appealing. He once said he would ask the shareholders to set up a company for an employee, but then nothing came of it

6. He always claims that the shareholders are very wealthy, that funding is not a problem, and that there is no upper limit on labor costs. After moving to a new office, however, he wanted to save on this and that, and even complained loudly that a monitor adapter cable was expensive. You can observe for yourself whether the company has ample funds

7. This company is going to change its name. Everyone is on their own