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Even in the Bay Area, the Samsung culture is extremely top-down and overwork focused. I’ve heard too many stories of whole departments needing to throw everythi

by jitl 5y ago

Even in the Bay Area, the Samsung culture is extremely top-down and overwork focused. I’ve heard too many stories of whole departments needing to throw everything out and build something totally different at the very end of year-long projects because on an executive’s whims. On the other hand their cafeteria food is supposedly very good (especially if you like Korean and Japanese).

spaniard89277 5y ago
You work for a shitty boss but the cafetería is nice!
- ineedasername 5y ago
  Yep, food is nice where I work too, but it's not what keeps me around. A great workplace except for bad/no food is worth brown bagging it, going off-site to a random franchise, ordering delivery, etc.
jason-phillips 5y ago
> the Samsung culture is extremely top-down and overwork focused Allow me to add some context. The Samsung culture could be described as militaristic, with accompanying rank and ceremony, therefore I can see how you identified the top-down chain-of-command relationships. [edited]
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  Of course as American employees of the American branch office you might draw comparisons between the work culture there and other, similar tech companies in America and factor this into your valuation of the employer in question.
- hasmolo 5y ago
  i feel like you’ve made a point here that, if you phrased a little differently, would’ve been an interesting addition to the conversation.
- kurthr 5y ago
  This (top level story) is a reflection of _SAMSUNG_ (particularly SEC-SLSI) culture. There are certainly elements of Korean culture, but it is for example VERY different from LG culture. I don't understand why there's a reason to jump to 5000 years of history for criticism of a part of a company that's having problems... apparently with truthful internal communication. I think most people would accept that Intel has/had similar problems based in financial optimization, but that doesn't directly reflect on 5000 years of western culture.
  - userbinator 5y ago
    but that doesn't directly reflect on 5000 years of western culture. There hasn't even been 5000 years of western culture...
    - edgyquant 5y ago
      There hasn’t been 5000 years of any culture tbh
      - moistly 5y ago
        Australian aborigines have over 50000 years of culture behind them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indigenous_Australians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indigenous_Australi...
        klibertp 5y ago
        Very off-topic, but it's one of the most shameful episodes in Western, British, and Australian history. Almost 200 years of racism, persecution, forced assimilation, kidnapping children and putting them into religious institutions, and a lot more - and it was only in 2008 that the Australian govt cared to apologize. Incredible cultures, incredible wealth of lifestyles, ideas, beliefs - almost destroyed in the name of "making [Aboriginal people] more civilized and industrious". Yes, the glorious Western civilization did the same pretty much everywhere, but Australian Aboriginal people's culture is unique due to their very long period of isolation - it's a gem and wonder worth studying and learning from. Yet, the Western instinct was to trample on and destroy it, systematically, irreversibly, just for the sake of it. Reading the Wiki page you linked some time back literally left me in tears. How could we. I don't even.
- wincy 5y ago
  I genuinely have no idea what this appeal to ancient cultural authority is meant to convey, especially since virtually everyone was destitute and had no human rights for the overwhelming majority of human history. That a preindustrial society existed for 5,000 years with very little change has no bearing at all on how a multinational business ought to be run in a modern society. In fact, I would argue that technological advances became possible precisely because we blew apart many of these entrenched power structures.
  - jason-phillips 5y ago
    As someone who grew up overseas, I can tell you that most of the world does not feel as you do. Cultural differences and identities go far in explaining the reason why things are the way they are. And the rest of the world doesn't shy away from it. I am sure that what you wrote is true from your perspective and have therefor edited my comment so as to not produce discomfort.
achow 5y ago
> ..whole departments needing to throw everything out and build something totally different.. The big reason for that is any overseas research center like SRA (Samsung Research America) works on future, whereas Korea works on current. When working on future features or tech, it is all about bets and experimentation. And these are wont to fail or be wrong quite frequently.
borner791 5y ago
The SRA caf was super nice, and extremely subsidized... It was a nice trip out there.

by jitl 5y ago

spaniard89277 5y ago

You work for a shitty boss but the cafetería is nice!

ineedasername 5y ago
Yep, food is nice where I work too, but it's not what keeps me around. A great workplace except for bad/no food is worth brown bagging it, going off-site to a random franchise, ordering delivery, etc.

jason-phillips 5y ago

> the Samsung culture is extremely top-down and overwork focused Allow me to add some context. The Samsung culture could be described as militaristic, with accompanying rank and ceremony, therefore I can see how you identified the top-down chain-of-command relationships. [edited]

formerly_proven 5y ago
Of course as American employees of the American branch office you might draw comparisons between the work culture there and other, similar tech companies in America and factor this into your valuation of the employer in question.
hasmolo 5y ago
i feel like you’ve made a point here that, if you phrased a little differently, would’ve been an interesting addition to the conversation.
kurthr 5y ago
This (top level story) is a reflection of _SAMSUNG_ (particularly SEC-SLSI) culture. There are certainly elements of Korean culture, but it is for example VERY different from LG culture. I don't understand why there's a reason to jump to 5000 years of history for criticism of a part of a company that's having problems... apparently with truthful internal communication. I think most people would accept that Intel has/had similar problems based in financial optimization, but that doesn't directly reflect on 5000 years of western culture.
- userbinator 5y ago
  but that doesn't directly reflect on 5000 years of western culture. There hasn't even been 5000 years of western culture...
  - edgyquant 5y ago
    There hasn’t been 5000 years of any culture tbh
    - moistly 5y ago
      Australian aborigines have over 50000 years of culture behind them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indigenous_Australians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indigenous_Australi...
      - klibertp 5y ago
        Very off-topic, but it's one of the most shameful episodes in Western, British, and Australian history. Almost 200 years of racism, persecution, forced assimilation, kidnapping children and putting them into religious institutions, and a lot more - and it was only in 2008 that the Australian govt cared to apologize. Incredible cultures, incredible wealth of lifestyles, ideas, beliefs - almost destroyed in the name of "making [Aboriginal people] more civilized and industrious". Yes, the glorious Western civilization did the same pretty much everywhere, but Australian Aboriginal people's culture is unique due to their very long period of isolation - it's a gem and wonder worth studying and learning from. Yet, the Western instinct was to trample on and destroy it, systematically, irreversibly, just for the sake of it. Reading the Wiki page you linked some time back literally left me in tears. How could we. I don't even.
wincy 5y ago
I genuinely have no idea what this appeal to ancient cultural authority is meant to convey, especially since virtually everyone was destitute and had no human rights for the overwhelming majority of human history. That a preindustrial society existed for 5,000 years with very little change has no bearing at all on how a multinational business ought to be run in a modern society. In fact, I would argue that technological advances became possible precisely because we blew apart many of these entrenched power structures.
- jason-phillips 5y ago
  As someone who grew up overseas, I can tell you that most of the world does not feel as you do. Cultural differences and identities go far in explaining the reason why things are the way they are. And the rest of the world doesn't shy away from it. I am sure that what you wrote is true from your perspective and have therefor edited my comment so as to not produce discomfort.

achow 5y ago

> ..whole departments needing to throw everything out and build something totally different.. The big reason for that is any overseas research center like SRA (Samsung Research America) works on future, whereas Korea works on current. When working on future features or tech, it is all about bets and experimentation. And these are wont to fail or be wrong quite frequently.

borner791 5y ago

The SRA caf was super nice, and extremely subsidized... It was a nice trip out there.