Signs that I've seen before leaving:
* There are more VPs than there are restrooms.
* The free coffee and soda is no more.
* Engineers are co-opted as salespeople ("... and why is the project late?").
* There are more VPs than there are restrooms.
* The free coffee and soda is no more.
* Engineers are co-opted as salespeople ("... and why is the project late?").
It must be intentional even if nobody admits it, and it's a way to drive out people. Ironically, it also drives out the people that know they have better options, while you're left with the worst workers who are desperate and don't think they can get another job. But they don't care as long as the headcount target is met, and they can get that performance bonus.
But having engineers actually trying to do sales to make up for revenue shortfall . . . not so much :-)
After all, it's us devs who are left with the burden when it's discovered a few days before go-live that sales has sold something we don't have because they missed some nuances in what the customer said or similar.
Nice thing is that it’s easy to do pre-employment testing.