Glamorous tech startups can be brutal places for workers

 vía @tecleandor "a career as a software developer or engineer comes with no guarantee of job satisfaction."

Software firms are supposed to be a paradise for “talent”. Not only are their workers fabulously paid, but they are showered with perks as well.


The other side of paradise | The Economist

A survey last year of 5,000 such workers at both tech and non-tech firms, by TINYPulse, a specialist in monitoring employee satisfaction, found that many of them feel alienated, trapped, underappreciated and otherwise discombobulated. Only 19% of tech employees said they were happy in their jobs and only 17% said they felt valued in their work. In many areas they were even more discontented than non-tech workers: 36% of techies felt they had a clear career path compared with 50% of workers in areas such as marketing and finance; 28% of techies said they understand their companies’ vision compared with 43% of non-techies; and 47% of techies said they had good relations with their work colleagues compared with 56% of non-techies. 

The tech economy is a ruthless meritocracy.