4 ms·

I used to work on the Okta team that made those libraries. We were a tiny team with not nearly enough people. As far as I could tell, Okta is a sales company.

I used to work on the Okta team that made those libraries. We were a tiny team with not nearly enough people. As far as I could tell, Okta is a sales company. The salespeople got the fancy events, the high floors with nice views, all the budget. On my orientation day it was almost entirely sales people and only one other engineer. Also the pay was laughable compared to any of the other jobs I’ve had before or since. I didn’t even stay there 5 months, what a shit show. Another fun story from there: I was literally the only Windows-experienced developer in the company at the time, I was sometimes approached by unrelated teams that had an issue getting something to work on Windows asking for help. I would happily help where I could, but then I got chewed out by my manager and director for doing so. Enterprise customers are the only ones that mattered, and engineers were expected to keep our heads down and implement what was asked and nothing more. It’s a sad day for Auth0. I got to know some people who came into Okta via acquisitions and let’s just say it’s not a fun ride.

vecinu 6y ago
> Also the pay was laughable compared to any of the other jobs I’ve had before or since. Really? I'm shocked to hear this considering their successful IPO. Most engineers in SV get options and I would imagine those engineering options would be worth a lot 12-months post IPO.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- suddenstutter 6y ago
  Also worked at Okta. Can confirm, pay is surprisingly shit.
  - dwoot 6y ago
    Are the figures on Levels accurate? https://www.levels.fyi/company/Okta/salaries/Software-Engineer/ https://www.levels.fyi/company/Okta/salaries/Software-Engine... Seems fairly par for the course?
    - skeeter2020 6y ago
      Don't know about the comp levels but the title / experience / pay seems totally whacky - a staff-level engineer with a total of 5-7 years of experience? IME this role is for very experienced ICs who don't move into management but are still key leaders. Has title inflation followed the general trends of post-secondary grade inflation?
- blaines 6y ago
  I have a couple friends who previously worked for Okta and they similarly lamented that the comp was shit and they treated folks poorly in the IPO process. For them, it wasn't worth it.
TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
What's sadder for our society as a whole is that, despite this comment and the GP comment, this is happening, and will be allowed to happen by regulators who won't give this a second glance. And this sort of multi-billion-dollar absorption of a "better" company by a "worse" company is almost a weekly story. Tech started out as a meritocracy, and a lot of us still operate personally in a meritocratic bubble, but, generally, this hasn't applied for a long time. As a whole, tech is leading the way forward in a neo-fuedalistic form of government. These political marriages to increase one's kingdom are a common affair, and they NEVER work to end-users' advantage. They only serve to make the kings and princes of the realms involved a lot of money. The best we tech-end-users can do is grit our teeth, and hope that the acquisition doesn't ruin a product that we love and depend on. The one I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on is GitHub. There's a LOT of people on this site (among many others) who crow about how Microsoft has changed, but time will tell. At the very least GitHub is going to get "FOR BUSINESS!" laced all through it. I note, for the record, that many of the high-profile Ruby people abandoned ship for Shopify after the sale. That's not usually a good sign. Having been through a "merger of equals" of Fortune 150's -- and watching my very-good-company-to-work-for being broken up and sold for parts to float the bad company's survival -- I've learned this is all you have to do: watch who leaves and who stays. Ignore all the PR statements. They are literally worse than nothing. Watch what happens to the core tech people, and the distinct VP's. That will tell you what's really happening with the restructuring. In my company, the ring-1 exec's all cashed out their golden parachutes and left. You have to have some inside information to understand the players, so this is tough to do from an external observer's point of view.
- thrownaway564 6y ago
  "meritocracy" is a banned word at okta. We have a wiki page with over 80 words banned and 'discouraged' for inclusivity definition: "Belief in the flawed idea that hard work and talent alone are all that’s needed to achieve success." Thanks Todd!
  - TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
    Wow. I don't think I could have come up with anything more poignant. Thanks for creating a throwaway to point that out.

vecinu 6y ago

> Also the pay was laughable compared to any of the other jobs I’ve had before or since. Really? I'm shocked to hear this considering their successful IPO. Most engineers in SV get options and I would imagine those engineering options would be worth a lot 12-months post IPO.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
suddenstutter 6y ago
Also worked at Okta. Can confirm, pay is surprisingly shit.
- dwoot 6y ago
  Are the figures on Levels accurate? https://www.levels.fyi/company/Okta/salaries/Software-Engineer/ https://www.levels.fyi/company/Okta/salaries/Software-Engine... Seems fairly par for the course?
  - skeeter2020 6y ago
    Don't know about the comp levels but the title / experience / pay seems totally whacky - a staff-level engineer with a total of 5-7 years of experience? IME this role is for very experienced ICs who don't move into management but are still key leaders. Has title inflation followed the general trends of post-secondary grade inflation?
blaines 6y ago
I have a couple friends who previously worked for Okta and they similarly lamented that the comp was shit and they treated folks poorly in the IPO process. For them, it wasn't worth it.

TheRealDunkirk 6y ago

What's sadder for our society as a whole is that, despite this comment and the GP comment, this is happening, and will be allowed to happen by regulators who won't give this a second glance. And this sort of multi-billion-dollar absorption of a "better" company by a "worse" company is almost a weekly story. Tech started out as a meritocracy, and a lot of us still operate personally in a meritocratic bubble, but, generally, this hasn't applied for a long time. As a whole, tech is leading the way forward in a neo-fuedalistic form of government. These political marriages to increase one's kingdom are a common affair, and they NEVER work to end-users' advantage. They only serve to make the kings and princes of the realms involved a lot of money. The best we tech-end-users can do is grit our teeth, and hope that the acquisition doesn't ruin a product that we love and depend on. The one I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on is GitHub. There's a LOT of people on this site (among many others) who crow about how Microsoft has changed, but time will tell. At the very least GitHub is going to get "FOR BUSINESS!" laced all through it. I note, for the record, that many of the high-profile Ruby people abandoned ship for Shopify after the sale. That's not usually a good sign. Having been through a "merger of equals" of Fortune 150's -- and watching my very-good-company-to-work-for being broken up and sold for parts to float the bad company's survival -- I've learned this is all you have to do: watch who leaves and who stays. Ignore all the PR statements. They are literally worse than nothing. Watch what happens to the core tech people, and the distinct VP's. That will tell you what's really happening with the restructuring. In my company, the ring-1 exec's all cashed out their golden parachutes and left. You have to have some inside information to understand the players, so this is tough to do from an external observer's point of view.

thrownaway564 6y ago
"meritocracy" is a banned word at okta. We have a wiki page with over 80 words banned and 'discouraged' for inclusivity definition: "Belief in the flawed idea that hard work and talent alone are all that’s needed to achieve success." Thanks Todd!
- TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
  Wow. I don't think I could have come up with anything more poignant. Thanks for creating a throwaway to point that out.