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Job culture in the UK is soooo much better than in Spain. I've worked on both places, so this is first hand experience. In Spain I would get sent to a training

Job culture in the UK is soooo much better than in Spain. I've worked on both places, so this is first hand experience. In Spain I would get sent to a training, because we needed to have someone certified on that product to get discounts, then the company would ask me to sign a contract to either stay with them at least two more years or pay a 2k fine. The idiots only tried to do this after the training, thinking otherwise I might just refuse to get trained. Of course I refused to sign, but I was only one of the few who would refuse. In the UK I even get to choose my training. Not just technical, but also on soft skills. Even training that I might not apply in my current role, but I might need to move to a new role. The biggest shocker for me was the manager-employee relationship. In Spain the manager owns you. In the UK the manager is a team member with a very specific goal: make you and your team successful. And don't get me started on leaving the office before your manager does... Of course he would be the biggest sucker (otherwise you don't get to be a manager) and won't leave until 8pm. Leaving shortly after your shift ended was frowned upon by colleagues and verbally challenged by managers: - Where are you going? - Home. - Don't you have work to do? - Yep, that's why I'm coming back tomorrow again. That company was terribly toxic and I have seen it destroy several families and people's health.

cwilkes 10y ago
> - Don't you have work to do? > - Yep, that's why I'm coming back tomorrow again. Hah, good one. I'm curious in this toxic situation doesn't it just take a few good companies that treat their employees well to change things around? The good engineers will flock there leaving the bad ones at the old companies. Granted that probably means the managers will now try and get 2x the work out of the remainders. Maybe some will get a clue though and change their ways.
- NetStrikeForce 10y ago
  I thought about it a few times. What would it take to turn this around? Surely I can take some capital and start a development company where the people are treated better hence more productive, so I can deliver better products? The problem is the customer. The customer ends up always being the government (national, regional or local) and they have a higher degree of employees that don't care about quality, so the big software factories (called butchers over there because they sell you almost by weight) can put under payed, under qualified and burned out developers on the project. I have hopes on all the new tech companies flourishing around the country that are looking outside Spain for their customers. I am hoping they will end up shaping the market for good.
gordaco 10y ago
What you describe is sadly very common (and I've seen it happen first hand in a few places, including Tuenti by the way[1]). However, if you look you can find places where it doesn't work that way. I've found that the closest to a sweet spot is working for any European (i.e., not American and not Spanish) company that does in-house software development (i.e., not an outsourcing company). [1] I mention this because someone else has mentioned that Tuenti infuriated some companies by paying more than the average one. On the other hand, I could name a few people that were literally fired from there because of not doing enough unpaid overtime.

cwilkes 10y ago

> - Don't you have work to do? > - Yep, that's why I'm coming back tomorrow again. Hah, good one. I'm curious in this toxic situation doesn't it just take a few good companies that treat their employees well to change things around? The good engineers will flock there leaving the bad ones at the old companies. Granted that probably means the managers will now try and get 2x the work out of the remainders. Maybe some will get a clue though and change their ways.

NetStrikeForce 10y ago
I thought about it a few times. What would it take to turn this around? Surely I can take some capital and start a development company where the people are treated better hence more productive, so I can deliver better products? The problem is the customer. The customer ends up always being the government (national, regional or local) and they have a higher degree of employees that don't care about quality, so the big software factories (called butchers over there because they sell you almost by weight) can put under payed, under qualified and burned out developers on the project. I have hopes on all the new tech companies flourishing around the country that are looking outside Spain for their customers. I am hoping they will end up shaping the market for good.

gordaco 10y ago

What you describe is sadly very common (and I've seen it happen first hand in a few places, including Tuenti by the way[1]). However, if you look you can find places where it doesn't work that way. I've found that the closest to a sweet spot is working for any European (i.e., not American and not Spanish) company that does in-house software development (i.e., not an outsourcing company). [1] I mention this because someone else has mentioned that Tuenti infuriated some companies by paying more than the average one. On the other hand, I could name a few people that were literally fired from there because of not doing enough unpaid overtime.