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Comment by mackwic | Hacker News Reader

Article say that big money make things a lot smoother anyway. Do you disagree ?

Working at Netflix seems to be a very demanding experience. Will you say that Netflix balance this demand ? In which way ?

Reading this article, I have the feeling that Netflix wants the perfect employees, with no bonuses, no awesome perks, an Uncle Scrooge culture (Wow, I can display my $40 SV paid-by-myself poster in the corridor without asking ! Awesome !), and worst of it an "Han shot first" management.

The saddest thing in this article is the unconditional autocongratulation (sorry for the frenchism) when it doesn't seems so marvelous.

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I've been at Netflix for close to 6 years.

Working there, IMHO, is no more demanding than any other company.

There are no bonus', the salary is just raised - the average pay for engineers at Netflix is something like $200k which is fairly competitive to the "total compensation" from other employers.

I might be wrong here, but being treated like an adult, a very liberal vacation policy, and 100% support for anything and everything I need to do my job; are more valuable than what most people consider perks...

And they're certainly not a "uncle scrooge" culture - I've never once had to justify a purchase and as far as I can tell unless you're asking for something odd or fairly expensive (>5k or so) manager approval isn't even needed.

Anyone's experience at Netflix is going to be heavily influenced by their manager, and sadly, Netflix doesn't seem to be much better than any other company at finding or growing good managers.

Thank you for your feedback. It helps to understand.

> Working at Netflix seems to be a very demanding experience. Will you say that Netflix balance this demand ? In which way ?

It is demanding, but management sets a good example of taking time off and allowing for a work/life balance. If you're there at 6pm on a weekday, the building is 1/2 empty and by 7pm almost no one is around. People do not work crazy hours.

Also, for the most part, no one is around for the next two weeks, other than being on call for critical issues.

As for the no bonuses and perks, that is deceiving. Yes it is true, but instead they pay us what they would spend on those perks. Then we can chose to spend it on that or anything else.

Also, there are no official perks, but management is really good about celebrating wins and making sure we feel appreciated.

Thank you jedberg. You and elq give a much realistic view of what Netflix is.

And thank you mackwic. I appreciate seeing "thank you" comments, especially when they specify what they liked/disliked about the parent post. HN could use some more of the civility and appreciation that you exemplify. =)

Nowadays, building population at 6pm is meaningless. It just means people are smart enough to sandbag and work from home.

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