Yes, I never trust what company people say about their workplaces, unless: I know them, it's in private and they have sharply critical minds. (Usually called "d

Yes, I never trust what company people say about their workplaces, unless: I know them, it's in private and they have sharply critical minds. (Usually called "disgruntled".) - If I don't know them, they have little incentive to tell me the truth. - If it's not private, then selection bias: glowing affirmations (or pseudo-critique: "Yeah we have our problems, but...") will obviously be the voices we hear. Not only are those maybe rewarded, but cold enough critiques are swiftly punished. For obvious reasons. - If they're not sharply critical types, they miss what should be obvious, because they drink the koolaid or are just plain fine with whatever silliness. (Why the emphasis on critique? Because one's job is solving problems, and real companies have such egregious problems. I'll accept fairly wrong critique in preference to correct bragging, because critique's usually missing and at least something not-too-wrong is a string to pull on during research.)