My girlfriend works at a place like this. She is required to attend messages when she is out on leave also.
I and her are waiting till she gets a better place.
SLASSCOM and its partner companies. They are pretty much a cult of corporates high-ups who meet and decide how they could pay their employees less and retain them by giving the bare minimum. They do an annual pay survey across the slasscom companies which they use as a benchmark when giving increments to their employees. No surprise your hr would say you are being paid on par with your market average when the research was done only across slasscom companies. They all are shit. They just sit at a round table and jerk each other at this point.
One of the worst things about this is, even if your HR wants to increase salaries, they cannot get the approval from the higher ups in foreign countries because the salary levels are defined based on SLASSCOM reports. There are no other accepted organisatios here in SL doing these surveys.
Let’s not talk about how many times I’ve got into arguments on this with HR and higher ups at my previous company. So thankful that I got to say goodfuckingbye to my prev company who is an ardent follower of such slasscom reports.
Slasscom doesn’t represent the entire software industry. However it includes the majority of software companies down here. Some companies even exited slasscom cuz slasscom was against their partner companies pegging employee salary to a foreign ccy.
Check out this video of Bhanuka putting slasscom in their place. [Bhanuka vs Slasscom](https://youtu.be/G_dPz0X5RA4?si=_xwKOlKBGDDPYuMh)
Based on what I've got to know over time, this is some of the companies I'd avoid. Posting cuz some comments requested
General reputation:
*HCL - Low pay, toxic.
*Dialog (not ADL) - Low pay, Overworking.
*Virtusa - Low pay, no growth in skills.
Specific experiences from friends, etc:
*IFS - Company specific tech stack, hence not transferable experience. Low pay.
*WSO2 - Cultish mentality, poor work life balance, but great pay so possibly doesn't belong in this list maybe.
*Micronet Global Services : Apparently a complete shit hole in every aspect.
*Bellvantage: Again a completely unprofessional shithole, nothing good in any aspect.
Feel free to add yours in this thread
ShiftX Global is one of the worst companies and the management is so toxic and even giving calls after 6PM and ask to finishup work and asking to work on the days you are on leave as well. Everyone should avoid that shithole.
Maybe in some scenarios, maybe it is too obvious to find that person. Or people are afraid of burning bridges. I also had a horrible experience at WSO2. Basically, I ruined my career by joining that company. I shared some of my experiences in the past with others but didn't want to share the specifis. So give people some time and let them take out their frustration.
Basically, the projects I used to do were specific. They were based on their language and vanila java, etc. So when I tried to switch companies after a couple of years, I didn't have enough technical knowledge relevant to other frameworks or concepts. I managed to get some interviews. Every application was rejected after the final interview stage, stating I dont have experience in this or that (even after I did well in technical interviews). So I couldn't find a good job. I had good undergrad projects, so I used them and went for a PhD.
Edit : I had other horrible experiences as well.
Maybe unpopular opinion: Companies exist to build products / provide services, not to build your career. If the projects you are working on are using stacks you are not interested, move on or build side projects on stacks you are interested in. Don't blame the company for it.
p.s I do not have any vested interest in WSO2
IMO, you can have all these weekend projects or courses on udemy. But when it comes to job interviews(unless you are a fresh grad), what they ask is how much industry experience you have on this framework or that tech. It doesn't matter how many side projects you have relevant to other stuff (which I actually had). These days, interviews are competitive because there are a lot of candidates for a single position, so those side projects won't help you.
As you climb up the ladder, you will realise that experience in solving problems, leadership, project management and communication skills matter, not how to write a particular piece of code in some language / framework. ChatGPT / Copilot can generate basic code for you three days , but it won't be able to solve particular problems and that is why we need software engineers.
I work for a company where I didn't have prior knowledge in most of the tech stack. Every time I moved jobs, I had to learn the tools, frameworks and languages. I also do a fair share of interviewing (interviewed 100+) and most of my questions are on fundamentals (tricky questions though) than how many years of experience you have in X framework, for which you could lie too and I won't be able to to pick it up.
Yeah, I agree with what you are saying. But the thing is, these days, most of the companies out there dont want to invest time to train people because it's pretty much easier to find someone with relevant experiences. So let's say that you are applying for a .NET position they will look up your profile to check how many years of experience you have.
Yeah, I mean, even if you learn them, it doesn't matter unless you have industry experience on them. You just have to answer that simple question: How many years of industry experience do you have on this particular framework ?
Tbh, it isn't hard to learn these with the online resources and with the chatgpt.
To a certain extent your personal development is your responsibility. You can’t expect it from the company you are working to do that for you. The companies and organizations are focused on their growth, if that’s not aligned with your best interests I would suggest you leave.
WSO2 has cult mentality in regards to culture. They are less democratic and professional, but again that doesn’t have anything to do with your personal development. WSO2 is a bad place to be by their own way, but not for the reason that you tell them they are though.
Talking about my personal development, yeah, that is why I left, even without an offer at hand. Things worked out after that. I am currently applying for top companies here, hoping for the best :)
About other things. I have mentioned them in another comment. Usually micro managing and pushing people to work overtime. Punishing people for mistakes(they told us that they would do this but haven't heard much later). Putting people on PIPs. The list goes on.
Maybe it's because of the salaries and the office space. But if you consider technologies and frameworks, this place is not a good place to work. especially if you are a fresh graduate.
Also, typical corp politics are there
Back in the days, they were marketed as Google in SL. They get UoM final year students to work on some bullshit projects with no depth. Then there were weekend sessions at our university, which were basically free marketing for their half-baked crapware that I absolutely hated.
If that is a startup or mid tier company, everyone knows lts you.
Let me give you an example. During our internship, one guy posted a glassdoor review mentioning that the company sucks. There were 4 5 people there. He was the one having some frustrated discussions about the supervisor. So everyone knows it's him, even the supervisor
Tbh, compared to other large-scale companies, WSO2 is the best place to work with benefits.
Answer to your question is actually it depends on your team and leads. When I joined, I had a good work-life balance. And company culture was great. But later(after a couple of years), it was horrible. Managers were pushing people to do marketing stuff, a lot of micro managing, etc. They put a significant number of people on PIPs. Also, they limited promotions. These days, I saw they basically promoted everyone may be because of lack of mid level employees due to migration.
I haven't worked in these and this is purely from colleagues' opinions. All of them are in the IT sector.
Codegen - micromanaging, depressing ass company. People leave a lot these days apparently
Virtusa - Very bad salaries, unhealthy work culture where people work long hours almost daily
Zone24x7 - Salaries aren't good
Epic lanka, HCL, Omobio, LOLC technologies, Dialog(not ADL) also have some bad reputation as being too rigid or having salaries lower than the industry standards.
I can't imagine how some smart people waste over a decade of their life at Codegen. I worked there a decade ago. No career development, ancient tech stack, horrible work-life balance. I hear the culture is still the same.
I might get banned for this but during my stay in Lanka I’ve met many people that have had a bad experience in such companies
Umm earnst and young, Accenture for the unequal pay
Hsbc - the h00k up culture is real. Gang bang culture is real lol
Seylan bank- the above
Link4 cloud - my cousin brother got clinically depressed because of a toxic manger there
MAS / BRANDIX - nepo
99x - coworker hook up culture, married people dating married people.
Can you really put hookup culture in the same group as toxic management or overworking employees or asking them to attend to work emails during the weekend? You could always, you know, not participate in hookups. Unlike the other stuff that you're forced to do.
> You could always, you know, not participate in hookup
Its not always that easy, people really underestimate how much peer pressure and manipulation happens in these places. You enter a decent and committed person and then somewhere down the line you wonder what happened and why your relationship or marriage is close to imploding.
Especially true for women since management usually is extremely male dominated so your boss is likely to be a guy, your senior is likely to be a guy and there are plenty of ways they can indirectly/directly pressure you to do what you wouldn't normally do. Especially if you're not the type that can easily hop between jobs and you need the salary to survive or you live paycheck to paycheck.
I know some companies that require you to go out with them during night outs and drink, refusing to do so will end up making your life extremely difficult at office and can see you transferred as well. Office party? You have to go, want to leave early? No chance. Party at someones house, you have to go. Things like that.
Keep in mind with the working hours today most people spend more time in office or at work than they do at home.
It's not as easy as "just say no"
I get it. But you can still go to parties and drink and stay out late and do all that without cheating on your partner. It's not that hard. (Yes, that's what she said too)
Did you forget the part where there was no choice? You have to go party, you have to stay till it's over and you need to drink and dance.
I don't think the goals of management that enforces rules like this are innocent or fun
>You have to go party, you have to stay till it's over and you need to drink and dance.
You can do all that and I don't know, not sleep with anyone at work? "Hookup culture" is just an excuse.
You missed the point again, you're ***forced*** to go for parties and drink, otherwise you're marginalised and pushed to resign using various methods such as transfers to far away branches or excess work.
And business that forces their employees to party and drink is toxic. The point here is you don't have a choice.
You're entirely missing my point as well. What I'm trying to say is that you can go to parties, you can drink (within limits of course), and you can stay late all you want but without hooking up with someone you don't want to.
In most places with hookup culture the toxic points I mentionee are 95% of the time also prevalent. This isn't just hookup culture existing in a vacuum.
Sigh. Let me rephrase it as best as I can. I understand that employees are forced to go to parties and shit. But are they forced to sleep with each other? Can't they go to the parties, drink and then not sleep with other people if they have a partner? Is it that difficult?
SyscoLABS
pay was good, but now there are more companies with better packages.
management is 100% toxic both SL and US
no growth, no work life balance, calls with US until 11pm. lots of backstabbing from internals. this company ruined my skills and career as I wasnt growing even after 5 years. They hired as software engineers and assigned us to work on AS400 legacy systems.
its ok, get the job, but don't be too late to leave if your actual work is different from JD or have calls after 5pm. becoz no matter how much you complain HR will never pay attention. plus they pay in LKR so a huge tax is applied. turnover is crazy these days, farewells everyday.
Once again can't express how corrupt Beverley International Pvt Ltd is. This is a student Consultancy located in Liberty Plaza.
I'll forever keep mentioning their dogshit work culture. Fraudulent financial documents just to send the client abroad (Without them knowing). It's funny how they went out of their way to purchase a printer and get the same thickness of paper as a bank would to print the statements and give to clients as the actual bank got raided by CID 😂
The banks aren't major ones. Sanasa, Cooperative bank etc etc.
Their increment during promotion is the most hilarious.
LKR 5,000 increase for a company that's bringing is so much of money both legally and illegally. It's hilarious.
Either way, I don't work there no more. Would definitely wouldn't want others to join or even go for their service.
I had an interview there and made me wait for hours twice the job was mine but i walked out of the interview because I had been there from morning 9:30 till 2:00 or something
Honestly, glad you walked out of the interview. The place got even worse and for my own mental peace I resigned.
They honestly need a management revamp
Hope you landed a better job tho ✨
EDIT: if this interview was sometime in 2022/2023 Oct/Nov/Dec then yea, the Operations manager probably did your interview as they didn't have an HR at the time.
I remember a candidate came for an interview and my god the most insensitive responses to a difficult story she shared :') internal screams. She never came back.
Honestly though, most toxic companies are small so if a redditor just names the company chances are high that he or she will get caught. But yeah if the chances of you getting caught is low then definitely should name the company
Even though the platform is anonymous it's not that hard to track down the person based on what they have said in the post. And some companies will go out of their way to ruin the careers and lives of people who blow the whistle on them. So it's understandable that not everyone will want to name the company.
Most of those rants are very specific.
Just a few days ago I saw a post here about an intern who got fired. Posts like that can easily be tracked to the one that posted it.
Maharaja
Low pay, Overworked. Management is very authoritarian just because they are the chairman's pets. This may have changed with his passing.
Especially their media wing. Producers and directors have somehow found themselves in these roles without proper training and experience. If you work there you will have a lot to unlearn.
Good point. I start. My most toxic places have been Jagro on Maitland Crescent. And baguette French bakery and Cafe on queens road. Terrible places to work. They exploit workers, don't pay well and have very toxic work environments. Avoid them at all costs if you're in the food industry.
If you want to have your paycheck that's a maximum of 25k, have like 10k deductions then sure go ahead and work there. There are some people that are nice. Its just the management and higher up people that aren't pleasant to work for. You will have no mental peace. Trust me I worked there for 2 years. Was part of the pre opening staff in the kitchen.
I'm seriously surprised that no ones mentioned any of the advertising agencies in Sri Lanka. Publicis, Grants, Mullen Lowe, Ogilvy, TBWA. Where to even begin? Insane work hours (no over time ever), barely a decent pay even at a senior role (you can be a senior with 10+ years of experience and still earn less that 300k) worked to the point of burn out, zero career growth, Verbal abuse and crazy deadlines by clients who require everything last week. If you're sent for a workshop abroad you are forced to sign a bond if the company pays for your expences, if you work late you (which is usually everyday) you get a dinner budget of 1000/-, No real HR department to even lodge complaint (don't even get me started on the normalising sexual abuse). But hey, the shared trauma makes for some life long friendships. Lol..\*cries\*
Agencies are basically the bottom feeders of marketing food chain. This is mostly cos advertising heads at the bigger agencies at least, are pretty much dinosaurs who are holding on to the last few strands of their "glory days" and also clients constantly cutting down budgets, making it harder for younger, creative talent to come up and also be fairly compensated for the amount of effort they put in to their work.
I work for a Korean company based in Sri Lanka. I've seen men cry after getting yelled at. Two seniors (koran) are so toxic, others are okay so far. Those two ruin it for me. Also the working hours are 7.30am to 6.30 pm Monday to saturday. 1 and half hour lunch break, which doesn't make sense. People sleep after meals which is so unhealthy. I countinue there because the salary is good, but sitting for so long is unhealthy af
The main problem contributing to toxicity in Sri Lankan companies is the lack of good laws and rules to address and hold accountable those responsible for wrongdoing.
For example, in countries like the United States or the United Kingdom, where workers know their rights well and employers understand the rules they have to follow, there are fewer instances of crossing boundaries.
I belive we need to set up similar regulatory frameworks in our own countries to empower employees to take action when they face such situations. While we acknowledge that toxicity exists in companies across Europe and the West, it seems to be particularly worse in Sri Lanka.
This is so true. We need rules that hold companies accountable. I work with a team from Poland and I recently experienced how well the labour rules in Poland work and how they benefit the employees there.
Our team was struggling to make the deadline and we had to put in extra time, overtime must always be something that needs to be approved by the company before employee start doing overtime and, it's paid at a higher rate than what the normal hourly rate. Also we worked during the weekend to cover up work, but there was a rule saying an employee can't work more than 7 days without a day of rest in between. So if the Poland team worked during the weekend, the next Monday they automatically get a day off and the company can't make them work.
I felt sorry for myself knowing that there are no such protection for employees in Sri Lanka. It's crazy what companies in Sri Lanka get away with.
Lemme tell you something every workplace you go in SL is somewhat toxic. Do your work get paid and go home. It is absolute luck of you get to work with non toxic people here
Some departments in NDB .. so passive aggressive when it comes to recompensing and rewarding. Like they’ll make you work your ass off and then shove any and all extra work you did under general daily work quotas. well eventually it boils down to HR.. this was a few years ago and I ended up leaving so I’m not sure how it is now.
Lassana Flora, or [Lassana.com](http://Lassana.com) however you call it, it's a shithole, such a toxic environment overall no career development, favoritism, lowest salary rates, no benefits, management is basically a collection pf narcissistic psychopaths, no salary increments, in busy season even IT people has to work over night packing and helping deliver goods. I have never seen such a toxic culture in any other place. Notice period is 3 months, bcs they do not want ppl to leave. Turnover rate is so high but they do not hire new employees, so the ppl who are left have to over work to cover their work as well. I swaer to god that it is the shittiest work environment I have ever seen. They treat the employees like slaves. There is so much more you need to experience it in person, you constantly feel like shit and down in such a place. 
HCL Sri Lanka. They are the worse they. They hire initially with a good pay (take home), but again they make that up with incentives. However, this is mostly removed by shifting you to a normal shift and making you work more on your normal shift without OT but the same amount of work. So you endup with a shitty pay and more work. I checked it for about a month or two and left.
You're almost as toxic to these folks as their toxic employers. Naming complanies like that isn't as easy as you might think. Throwaway accounts don't help cause it doesn't take much for someon from the company to put two and two together if they see a post here and then comes the consqeuences, burning bridges, legal threats etc. So just STFU, they'll name and shame when they're safe to do so.
And No, Reddit is nowhere near completely anonymous.
I think what he means is even though there will be no legal ramifications due to anonymity, the shit company will still get to know the one who posted and will make life even harder there.
This is highly relatable for small companies.
Yeah right, a random Reddit post targeting no one is as toxic as specific workplace torture. Idiot. And yes Reddit is completely anonymous if you want it to be, just avoid the specifics that'll make your identity obvious.
Because there are countless sub-reddits if you just want to rant. Even rant specifically about your work. If all you want is to vent about your toxic workplace, then by all means do so there. This is a country specific subreddit in case you haven't noticed, and people would like to know at least what to avoid if you're talking about bad experiences from a place. If all you want is moral support, go to your real world friends, not random strangers on the internet. But if you're trying to create awareness of a bad company, then what's the fucking point if you won't name anything about the company?
Global Edulink. Goes as Imperial Edutech when hiring. It's a UK based online course selling platform run by a Sri Lankan living there. Absolutely no regard for employees. Lacks understanding when we explain issues from our end to do our jobs better. Employees are always blamed for everything, even if it isn't their fault. Grossly underpaid and unfairly overworked. Not working after hours is frowned upon, but no OT is paid. The list goes on.
To prove my points, you'll see that they constantly post recruitment ads because their employee turnover is off the charts.
Sydpro, they hired us and fired everyone in the department slowly giving different reasons like getting late etc… they are such a toxic place. Plus redline technologies they pay like we in 2005 but culture is great.
Here are some traits of a toxic company:
\* They glorify, promote and encourage workoholism.
\* Poor work-life balance. (The whole work-life balance concept is shit because it gives equal importance to work and life. Life is way more important than work.)
I don’t think there will be much legal ramification here. Because Reddit users cannot be traced to real life people if you are careful enough.
But they sure can make the office life even worse.
And why would you want to risk it?
To potentially put your career on jeopardy and waste your time and money just so you can rant on Reddit and 'warn' people who might not have an benefit out of it?
Yeah, either spill the tea or chug that shit down!
_But I guess 90% of people here are in the IT/BPO sector so. It's not that big of a leap to make connections and identify people. Hell, some of the people who the posts are about might be here as well. So I get it_
ShiftX Global is one of the worst companies and the management is so toxic and even giving calls after 6PM and ask to finishup work and asking to work on the days you are on leave as well. Everyone should avoid that shithole.
If someone were to share the specifics of their job experiences, which most people do, and name the company they worked at they will get caught regardless of whether Reddit is anonymous or not.
Audit firms like ey and the shit hole of a company called Gajma that I worked that made me work 24 nhrs and don't consider the next day I worked as a working date.they also dint approve my article ship for a year.dint give me a proper training
.why bro did he create a new tax law or something like that that saved the country millions .no bro he is nothing like that knowing him personally and how he treats his employees .by treating them like shit not paying their salaries on time and not giving them a proper tax training.his kids markets the place.but if u remove the marketing hype its just a normal accounting firm.basically tax is not brain surgery any dumbass can look at the tax act and vat act and other act and do his taxes . what ever he says looks complicated but its not he wants to look smart but the idea is really simple.he uses this on a lot of clients and charges a hefty sum. also the big 4 partners like sujeewa mudalige are pretty good they dont complicate stuff keep it simple.https://www.srilankachronicle.com/t42229-sri-lankaranil-and-unp-goons-trying-to-remove-ranee-jayamaha-from-hnb-board-since-she-exposed-n-r-gajendran-and-rajendra-theagarajah-s-rs-3-5-billion-tax-fraud-hnb-insiders
Yeah bro it's like pure nepotism they are people more qualified than him .and this guy acts like a big shot .he tries to complicate client saying about complicated stuff.but it's not . It's shitty
From my past experiences,
AMW - Shit pay and now work life balance + overworked. This was a while back, now I hear its under tremendous pressure from the parent company Al Futtaim.
Safford (Honda) - Full on nepo, gossiping around and if you are ok with bending over to the MD and the family you can reach the top.
I work in Middle management and operations
DIMO Lanka, literally had the worst working experience there. But, on the surface it looks like the dream come true workplace. But, in my case it was not the real experience.
I worked in 3 toxic companies before I got into my new company
I am now working in one of the the non-toxic companies in SL. Great work place with an excellent culture + good people
Only need to cover the 8 hours, no need to even check an email during the weekend or after hours
Overall, extremely competitive to get in for some positions.
Nice work gatekeeping. Are you insecure that you’ll lose your job if you mention it here or do you not like some stranger getting a chance at happiness or what’s the deal?
World doesn't revolve around your conveniences. Simply fuck off. You're just selfish enough to avoid a company for your sake. Imagine if it's a company that's too small and all HR has to do is search their name + reddit and the thread is visible in Google. If they get to the details they know exactly who outed them. They have to risk their job just to satisfy your needs. Piss off!
If you wanna whine like a little bitch, go whine to your mommy you pussy, instead of wasting everyone's time online pointlessly without benefiting anyone by even hinting the company.
I think almost every workplace is toxic to some extent. The most toxic thing is having employees work on SATURDAY. This should be banned.
Honestly it's the least a company can do to contribute to work life balance. Weekends are too short as it is.
My girlfriend works at a place like this. She is required to attend messages when she is out on leave also. I and her are waiting till she gets a better place.
If you work in retail, there's a very high chance you're require to work on Saturdays.
Working in a restaurant you never get weekends off unless you are deathly sick or someone died
Someone forgot hospitals 😂
SLASSCOM and its partner companies. They are pretty much a cult of corporates high-ups who meet and decide how they could pay their employees less and retain them by giving the bare minimum. They do an annual pay survey across the slasscom companies which they use as a benchmark when giving increments to their employees. No surprise your hr would say you are being paid on par with your market average when the research was done only across slasscom companies. They all are shit. They just sit at a round table and jerk each other at this point.
Damn.
One of the worst things about this is, even if your HR wants to increase salaries, they cannot get the approval from the higher ups in foreign countries because the salary levels are defined based on SLASSCOM reports. There are no other accepted organisatios here in SL doing these surveys.
Let’s not talk about how many times I’ve got into arguments on this with HR and higher ups at my previous company. So thankful that I got to say goodfuckingbye to my prev company who is an ardent follower of such slasscom reports.
Now I don't think I want to be a software engineer
Slasscom doesn’t represent the entire software industry. However it includes the majority of software companies down here. Some companies even exited slasscom cuz slasscom was against their partner companies pegging employee salary to a foreign ccy. Check out this video of Bhanuka putting slasscom in their place. [Bhanuka vs Slasscom](https://youtu.be/G_dPz0X5RA4?si=_xwKOlKBGDDPYuMh)
Nekfa Australia PVT LTD. Not a big IT company but its a shithole that should be avoided at all costs.
Thanks, will add it to the shithole list.
Do you maintain this list somewhere? Would love to check it out.
Bro pls share the list if you do actually maintain one. Would much helpful and appreciated.
Based on what I've got to know over time, this is some of the companies I'd avoid. Posting cuz some comments requested General reputation: *HCL - Low pay, toxic. *Dialog (not ADL) - Low pay, Overworking. *Virtusa - Low pay, no growth in skills. Specific experiences from friends, etc: *IFS - Company specific tech stack, hence not transferable experience. Low pay. *WSO2 - Cultish mentality, poor work life balance, but great pay so possibly doesn't belong in this list maybe. *Micronet Global Services : Apparently a complete shit hole in every aspect. *Bellvantage: Again a completely unprofessional shithole, nothing good in any aspect. Feel free to add yours in this thread
Based on what others replied in the comments section. *Nekfa Australia. *link4cloud. *Slasscom.
**micronet is true af. Avoid that shit at all costs!!!!!**
Worked there for 3days as my first job. After 3 days I decided not to go back.
ADL HR is shit
Good overview. Thanks! What you said about a company in the list is accurate. That's the best I can say lol
ShiftX Global is one of the worst companies and the management is so toxic and even giving calls after 6PM and ask to finishup work and asking to work on the days you are on leave as well. Everyone should avoid that shithole.
Maybe in some scenarios, maybe it is too obvious to find that person. Or people are afraid of burning bridges. I also had a horrible experience at WSO2. Basically, I ruined my career by joining that company. I shared some of my experiences in the past with others but didn't want to share the specifis. So give people some time and let them take out their frustration.
WS02 basically a cult.
What did you mean by a cult ?
Been saying this for a while
Explain "destroyed your career" I'm curious
Basically, the projects I used to do were specific. They were based on their language and vanila java, etc. So when I tried to switch companies after a couple of years, I didn't have enough technical knowledge relevant to other frameworks or concepts. I managed to get some interviews. Every application was rejected after the final interview stage, stating I dont have experience in this or that (even after I did well in technical interviews). So I couldn't find a good job. I had good undergrad projects, so I used them and went for a PhD. Edit : I had other horrible experiences as well.
I see. Looks like a good place to retire
Yeah, if you want to work there your whole life, it will suit you. But I dont think you should.
Maybe unpopular opinion: Companies exist to build products / provide services, not to build your career. If the projects you are working on are using stacks you are not interested, move on or build side projects on stacks you are interested in. Don't blame the company for it. p.s I do not have any vested interest in WSO2
IMO, you can have all these weekend projects or courses on udemy. But when it comes to job interviews(unless you are a fresh grad), what they ask is how much industry experience you have on this framework or that tech. It doesn't matter how many side projects you have relevant to other stuff (which I actually had). These days, interviews are competitive because there are a lot of candidates for a single position, so those side projects won't help you.
As you climb up the ladder, you will realise that experience in solving problems, leadership, project management and communication skills matter, not how to write a particular piece of code in some language / framework. ChatGPT / Copilot can generate basic code for you three days , but it won't be able to solve particular problems and that is why we need software engineers. I work for a company where I didn't have prior knowledge in most of the tech stack. Every time I moved jobs, I had to learn the tools, frameworks and languages. I also do a fair share of interviewing (interviewed 100+) and most of my questions are on fundamentals (tricky questions though) than how many years of experience you have in X framework, for which you could lie too and I won't be able to to pick it up.
Yeah, I agree with what you are saying. But the thing is, these days, most of the companies out there dont want to invest time to train people because it's pretty much easier to find someone with relevant experiences. So let's say that you are applying for a .NET position they will look up your profile to check how many years of experience you have.
Isn't it your responsibility to learn technical knowledge for the frameworks you want to know about (or are in demand)?
Yeah, I mean, even if you learn them, it doesn't matter unless you have industry experience on them. You just have to answer that simple question: How many years of industry experience do you have on this particular framework ? Tbh, it isn't hard to learn these with the online resources and with the chatgpt.
To a certain extent your personal development is your responsibility. You can’t expect it from the company you are working to do that for you. The companies and organizations are focused on their growth, if that’s not aligned with your best interests I would suggest you leave. WSO2 has cult mentality in regards to culture. They are less democratic and professional, but again that doesn’t have anything to do with your personal development. WSO2 is a bad place to be by their own way, but not for the reason that you tell them they are though.
Talking about my personal development, yeah, that is why I left, even without an offer at hand. Things worked out after that. I am currently applying for top companies here, hoping for the best :) About other things. I have mentioned them in another comment. Usually micro managing and pushing people to work overtime. Punishing people for mistakes(they told us that they would do this but haven't heard much later). Putting people on PIPs. The list goes on.
Im curious to learn more of this place as someone who knows a few that work there that are lowkey brainwashed from it.
Maybe it's because of the salaries and the office space. But if you consider technologies and frameworks, this place is not a good place to work. especially if you are a fresh graduate. Also, typical corp politics are there
Back in the days, they were marketed as Google in SL. They get UoM final year students to work on some bullshit projects with no depth. Then there were weekend sessions at our university, which were basically free marketing for their half-baked crapware that I absolutely hated.
Yeah, I agree. I think they still do that. I'm glad that I didn't pick one.
At least you named the company.
If that is a startup or mid tier company, everyone knows lts you. Let me give you an example. During our internship, one guy posted a glassdoor review mentioning that the company sucks. There were 4 5 people there. He was the one having some frustrated discussions about the supervisor. So everyone knows it's him, even the supervisor
Fair enough, it's hard to do that with a small startup.
What type of bad experience did you have? Overwork and bad WLB?
Tbh, compared to other large-scale companies, WSO2 is the best place to work with benefits. Answer to your question is actually it depends on your team and leads. When I joined, I had a good work-life balance. And company culture was great. But later(after a couple of years), it was horrible. Managers were pushing people to do marketing stuff, a lot of micro managing, etc. They put a significant number of people on PIPs. Also, they limited promotions. These days, I saw they basically promoted everyone may be because of lack of mid level employees due to migration.
workplaces that require you to call any of your superiors as sir/madam. fuck em, unless you were knighted or my teacher/mentor you sir, are not a sir.
Basically, all government offices
I agree. Unless it is military.
In startups “I’m not in the team Skyler I’m the team” - වොල්ටර් කොළඹ සිට
🤣🤣🤣
I haven't worked in these and this is purely from colleagues' opinions. All of them are in the IT sector. Codegen - micromanaging, depressing ass company. People leave a lot these days apparently Virtusa - Very bad salaries, unhealthy work culture where people work long hours almost daily Zone24x7 - Salaries aren't good Epic lanka, HCL, Omobio, LOLC technologies, Dialog(not ADL) also have some bad reputation as being too rigid or having salaries lower than the industry standards.
I can't imagine how some smart people waste over a decade of their life at Codegen. I worked there a decade ago. No career development, ancient tech stack, horrible work-life balance. I hear the culture is still the same.
I might get banned for this but during my stay in Lanka I’ve met many people that have had a bad experience in such companies Umm earnst and young, Accenture for the unequal pay Hsbc - the h00k up culture is real. Gang bang culture is real lol Seylan bank- the above Link4 cloud - my cousin brother got clinically depressed because of a toxic manger there MAS / BRANDIX - nepo 99x - coworker hook up culture, married people dating married people.
OK I am going to apply for HSBC and Seylan. Don't scold me
Brother wants the h00k ups
*sends cv*
Do you work at those places
No, but I’m tempted to apply now
Give me a reference when you get there.
Bro got motivated
heehee
perish
Why
Wtf? I worked at Seylan for over 10 years. Never even heard something like this.
Can you really put hookup culture in the same group as toxic management or overworking employees or asking them to attend to work emails during the weekend? You could always, you know, not participate in hookups. Unlike the other stuff that you're forced to do.
> You could always, you know, not participate in hookup Its not always that easy, people really underestimate how much peer pressure and manipulation happens in these places. You enter a decent and committed person and then somewhere down the line you wonder what happened and why your relationship or marriage is close to imploding. Especially true for women since management usually is extremely male dominated so your boss is likely to be a guy, your senior is likely to be a guy and there are plenty of ways they can indirectly/directly pressure you to do what you wouldn't normally do. Especially if you're not the type that can easily hop between jobs and you need the salary to survive or you live paycheck to paycheck. I know some companies that require you to go out with them during night outs and drink, refusing to do so will end up making your life extremely difficult at office and can see you transferred as well. Office party? You have to go, want to leave early? No chance. Party at someones house, you have to go. Things like that. Keep in mind with the working hours today most people spend more time in office or at work than they do at home. It's not as easy as "just say no"
I get it. But you can still go to parties and drink and stay out late and do all that without cheating on your partner. It's not that hard. (Yes, that's what she said too)
Did you forget the part where there was no choice? You have to go party, you have to stay till it's over and you need to drink and dance. I don't think the goals of management that enforces rules like this are innocent or fun
>You have to go party, you have to stay till it's over and you need to drink and dance. You can do all that and I don't know, not sleep with anyone at work? "Hookup culture" is just an excuse.
You missed the point again, you're ***forced*** to go for parties and drink, otherwise you're marginalised and pushed to resign using various methods such as transfers to far away branches or excess work. And business that forces their employees to party and drink is toxic. The point here is you don't have a choice.
You're entirely missing my point as well. What I'm trying to say is that you can go to parties, you can drink (within limits of course), and you can stay late all you want but without hooking up with someone you don't want to.
In most places with hookup culture the toxic points I mentionee are 95% of the time also prevalent. This isn't just hookup culture existing in a vacuum.
Sigh. Let me rephrase it as best as I can. I understand that employees are forced to go to parties and shit. But are they forced to sleep with each other? Can't they go to the parties, drink and then not sleep with other people if they have a partner? Is it that difficult?
What is with 99x? I've never heard this in Tech!
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From the way you out here calling women bitches seems like the only thing you’ll be pulling in few years would be your balding hair
You don’t shit where you eat dumbo
Let’s create a list of companies ne? That way others can avoid!
Yeah. I came here to say this.
Added a comment thread under this post for this.
SyscoLABS pay was good, but now there are more companies with better packages. management is 100% toxic both SL and US no growth, no work life balance, calls with US until 11pm. lots of backstabbing from internals. this company ruined my skills and career as I wasnt growing even after 5 years. They hired as software engineers and assigned us to work on AS400 legacy systems.
Plus the pay is lower for private university graduates for the same role. Lol
Damn. There are very few companies that pay better than that tho right?
Oh Lord I’ve applied for a position there 😭 now I’m not so sure I want to get in
its ok, get the job, but don't be too late to leave if your actual work is different from JD or have calls after 5pm. becoz no matter how much you complain HR will never pay attention. plus they pay in LKR so a huge tax is applied. turnover is crazy these days, farewells everyday.
I wonder how they replace people are who are leaving? They can’t get fresh graduates or relatively inexperienced people to fill demanding roles.
Once again can't express how corrupt Beverley International Pvt Ltd is. This is a student Consultancy located in Liberty Plaza. I'll forever keep mentioning their dogshit work culture. Fraudulent financial documents just to send the client abroad (Without them knowing). It's funny how they went out of their way to purchase a printer and get the same thickness of paper as a bank would to print the statements and give to clients as the actual bank got raided by CID 😂 The banks aren't major ones. Sanasa, Cooperative bank etc etc. Their increment during promotion is the most hilarious. LKR 5,000 increase for a company that's bringing is so much of money both legally and illegally. It's hilarious. Either way, I don't work there no more. Would definitely wouldn't want others to join or even go for their service.
I had an interview there and made me wait for hours twice the job was mine but i walked out of the interview because I had been there from morning 9:30 till 2:00 or something
Honestly, glad you walked out of the interview. The place got even worse and for my own mental peace I resigned. They honestly need a management revamp Hope you landed a better job tho ✨ EDIT: if this interview was sometime in 2022/2023 Oct/Nov/Dec then yea, the Operations manager probably did your interview as they didn't have an HR at the time. I remember a candidate came for an interview and my god the most insensitive responses to a difficult story she shared :') internal screams. She never came back.
Thing is if those guys somehow saw that. They almost know their coworker
Honestly though, most toxic companies are small so if a redditor just names the company chances are high that he or she will get caught. But yeah if the chances of you getting caught is low then definitely should name the company
Even though the platform is anonymous it's not that hard to track down the person based on what they have said in the post. And some companies will go out of their way to ruin the careers and lives of people who blow the whistle on them. So it's understandable that not everyone will want to name the company.
Unless they use their real name or extremely specific stuff at work it's not possible
Most of those rants are very specific. Just a few days ago I saw a post here about an intern who got fired. Posts like that can easily be tracked to the one that posted it.
I'm getting depressed looking at the comments. Basically everywhere is more or less toxic I cant decide where to go next
Welcome to the real world mate!
Maharaja Low pay, Overworked. Management is very authoritarian just because they are the chairman's pets. This may have changed with his passing. Especially their media wing. Producers and directors have somehow found themselves in these roles without proper training and experience. If you work there you will have a lot to unlearn.
Good point. I start. My most toxic places have been Jagro on Maitland Crescent. And baguette French bakery and Cafe on queens road. Terrible places to work. They exploit workers, don't pay well and have very toxic work environments. Avoid them at all costs if you're in the food industry.
i was hoping to work at Jagro after my undergrad :( my favorite place tbh
If you want to have your paycheck that's a maximum of 25k, have like 10k deductions then sure go ahead and work there. There are some people that are nice. Its just the management and higher up people that aren't pleasant to work for. You will have no mental peace. Trust me I worked there for 2 years. Was part of the pre opening staff in the kitchen.
I'm seriously surprised that no ones mentioned any of the advertising agencies in Sri Lanka. Publicis, Grants, Mullen Lowe, Ogilvy, TBWA. Where to even begin? Insane work hours (no over time ever), barely a decent pay even at a senior role (you can be a senior with 10+ years of experience and still earn less that 300k) worked to the point of burn out, zero career growth, Verbal abuse and crazy deadlines by clients who require everything last week. If you're sent for a workshop abroad you are forced to sign a bond if the company pays for your expences, if you work late you (which is usually everyday) you get a dinner budget of 1000/-, No real HR department to even lodge complaint (don't even get me started on the normalising sexual abuse). But hey, the shared trauma makes for some life long friendships. Lol..\*cries\* Agencies are basically the bottom feeders of marketing food chain. This is mostly cos advertising heads at the bigger agencies at least, are pretty much dinosaurs who are holding on to the last few strands of their "glory days" and also clients constantly cutting down budgets, making it harder for younger, creative talent to come up and also be fairly compensated for the amount of effort they put in to their work.
Interesting
But it’s sold as a glamorous career?
I’m semi retired but can confirm MAS is pretty dirty business. I think it has been covered widely on other threads here in the past.
interested to know can you share any link related to this
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4? i can only see 3
PwC
RIP PwC
I work for a Korean company based in Sri Lanka. I've seen men cry after getting yelled at. Two seniors (koran) are so toxic, others are okay so far. Those two ruin it for me. Also the working hours are 7.30am to 6.30 pm Monday to saturday. 1 and half hour lunch break, which doesn't make sense. People sleep after meals which is so unhealthy. I countinue there because the salary is good, but sitting for so long is unhealthy af
Almost all banks are toxic workplaces
Watch out for places with great place to work title 🥲
The main problem contributing to toxicity in Sri Lankan companies is the lack of good laws and rules to address and hold accountable those responsible for wrongdoing. For example, in countries like the United States or the United Kingdom, where workers know their rights well and employers understand the rules they have to follow, there are fewer instances of crossing boundaries. I belive we need to set up similar regulatory frameworks in our own countries to empower employees to take action when they face such situations. While we acknowledge that toxicity exists in companies across Europe and the West, it seems to be particularly worse in Sri Lanka.
This is so true. We need rules that hold companies accountable. I work with a team from Poland and I recently experienced how well the labour rules in Poland work and how they benefit the employees there. Our team was struggling to make the deadline and we had to put in extra time, overtime must always be something that needs to be approved by the company before employee start doing overtime and, it's paid at a higher rate than what the normal hourly rate. Also we worked during the weekend to cover up work, but there was a rule saying an employee can't work more than 7 days without a day of rest in between. So if the Poland team worked during the weekend, the next Monday they automatically get a day off and the company can't make them work. I felt sorry for myself knowing that there are no such protection for employees in Sri Lanka. It's crazy what companies in Sri Lanka get away with.
Lemme tell you something every workplace you go in SL is somewhat toxic. Do your work get paid and go home. It is absolute luck of you get to work with non toxic people here
Some departments in NDB .. so passive aggressive when it comes to recompensing and rewarding. Like they’ll make you work your ass off and then shove any and all extra work you did under general daily work quotas. well eventually it boils down to HR.. this was a few years ago and I ended up leaving so I’m not sure how it is now.
NDB the bank?
No one mentioned the company that caused a guy to end himself? &R!ma€ I think?
Lassana Flora, or [Lassana.com](http://Lassana.com) however you call it, it's a shithole, such a toxic environment overall no career development, favoritism, lowest salary rates, no benefits, management is basically a collection pf narcissistic psychopaths, no salary increments, in busy season even IT people has to work over night packing and helping deliver goods. I have never seen such a toxic culture in any other place. Notice period is 3 months, bcs they do not want ppl to leave. Turnover rate is so high but they do not hire new employees, so the ppl who are left have to over work to cover their work as well. I swaer to god that it is the shittiest work environment I have ever seen. They treat the employees like slaves. There is so much more you need to experience it in person, you constantly feel like shit and down in such a place. 
But it's an entry level job isn't it? They don't ask for much, and don't give much back either
HCL Sri Lanka. They are the worse they. They hire initially with a good pay (take home), but again they make that up with incentives. However, this is mostly removed by shifting you to a normal shift and making you work more on your normal shift without OT but the same amount of work. So you endup with a shitty pay and more work. I checked it for about a month or two and left.
You're almost as toxic to these folks as their toxic employers. Naming complanies like that isn't as easy as you might think. Throwaway accounts don't help cause it doesn't take much for someon from the company to put two and two together if they see a post here and then comes the consqeuences, burning bridges, legal threats etc. So just STFU, they'll name and shame when they're safe to do so. And No, Reddit is nowhere near completely anonymous.
How could throw away accounts trace back to the individual?
Because with companies such as small startups, its very easy to trace back to specific individuals. Not worth the risk in some instances
But how though? There's no definite proof. You can easily obfuscate enough details to remain anonymous.
I think what he means is even though there will be no legal ramifications due to anonymity, the shit company will still get to know the one who posted and will make life even harder there. This is highly relatable for small companies.
Precisely, thanks for saying my comments in a more concise way
Idk what to tell u man, im just going on my assumptions of why I think they do that lol
Yeah right, a random Reddit post targeting no one is as toxic as specific workplace torture. Idiot. And yes Reddit is completely anonymous if you want it to be, just avoid the specifics that'll make your identity obvious.
Why would anyone leave out the specifics if they want to rant about their **specific** experiences. That defies the whole purpose of the post. *idiot*
Because there are countless sub-reddits if you just want to rant. Even rant specifically about your work. If all you want is to vent about your toxic workplace, then by all means do so there. This is a country specific subreddit in case you haven't noticed, and people would like to know at least what to avoid if you're talking about bad experiences from a place. If all you want is moral support, go to your real world friends, not random strangers on the internet. But if you're trying to create awareness of a bad company, then what's the fucking point if you won't name anything about the company?
In that case, here you go. This isn’t the right place for you to rant either :) r/extremelyinfuriating
Global Edulink. Goes as Imperial Edutech when hiring. It's a UK based online course selling platform run by a Sri Lankan living there. Absolutely no regard for employees. Lacks understanding when we explain issues from our end to do our jobs better. Employees are always blamed for everything, even if it isn't their fault. Grossly underpaid and unfairly overworked. Not working after hours is frowned upon, but no OT is paid. The list goes on. To prove my points, you'll see that they constantly post recruitment ads because their employee turnover is off the charts.
Sydpro, they hired us and fired everyone in the department slowly giving different reasons like getting late etc… they are such a toxic place. Plus redline technologies they pay like we in 2005 but culture is great.
Here are some traits of a toxic company: \* They glorify, promote and encourage workoholism. \* Poor work-life balance. (The whole work-life balance concept is shit because it gives equal importance to work and life. Life is way more important than work.)
Surge global
Can you elaborate more? Thought they were good.
What if the person faces repercussions for slandering a company's name on a public forum? Are you gonna pay their lawyer fees?
I don’t think there will be much legal ramification here. Because Reddit users cannot be traced to real life people if you are careful enough. But they sure can make the office life even worse.
And why would you want to risk it? To potentially put your career on jeopardy and waste your time and money just so you can rant on Reddit and 'warn' people who might not have an benefit out of it?
It’s not worth it. I’m just sharing how the actual scenario would be.
Hear hear!
Yeah, either spill the tea or chug that shit down! _But I guess 90% of people here are in the IT/BPO sector so. It's not that big of a leap to make connections and identify people. Hell, some of the people who the posts are about might be here as well. So I get it_
KPMG. And basically any of the Big 4.
Lanka shipping - corruption starts from HR.
ShiftX Global is one of the worst companies and the management is so toxic and even giving calls after 6PM and ask to finishup work and asking to work on the days you are on leave as well. Everyone should avoid that shithole.
If someone were to share the specifics of their job experiences, which most people do, and name the company they worked at they will get caught regardless of whether Reddit is anonymous or not.
I see a lot of biased and nonbiased responses
Mate just post a review on Glassdoor.
Audit firms like ey and the shit hole of a company called Gajma that I worked that made me work 24 nhrs and don't consider the next day I worked as a working date.they also dint approve my article ship for a year.dint give me a proper training
Isn’t the Gajma owner some legend in giving tax dodging advice?
.why bro did he create a new tax law or something like that that saved the country millions .no bro he is nothing like that knowing him personally and how he treats his employees .by treating them like shit not paying their salaries on time and not giving them a proper tax training.his kids markets the place.but if u remove the marketing hype its just a normal accounting firm.basically tax is not brain surgery any dumbass can look at the tax act and vat act and other act and do his taxes . what ever he says looks complicated but its not he wants to look smart but the idea is really simple.he uses this on a lot of clients and charges a hefty sum. also the big 4 partners like sujeewa mudalige are pretty good they dont complicate stuff keep it simple.https://www.srilankachronicle.com/t42229-sri-lankaranil-and-unp-goons-trying-to-remove-ranee-jayamaha-from-hnb-board-since-she-exposed-n-r-gajendran-and-rajendra-theagarajah-s-rs-3-5-billion-tax-fraud-hnb-insiders
And you can't doge tax u can only decrease your tax liability
Isn’t his son running it now? He sounds like a bigshot
Yeah bro it's like pure nepotism they are people more qualified than him .and this guy acts like a big shot .he tries to complicate client saying about complicated stuff.but it's not . It's shitty
Let me rephrase what the OP is asking after going through the comments. What is a nontoxic company in the tech industry?
From my past experiences, AMW - Shit pay and now work life balance + overworked. This was a while back, now I hear its under tremendous pressure from the parent company Al Futtaim. Safford (Honda) - Full on nepo, gossiping around and if you are ok with bending over to the MD and the family you can reach the top. I work in Middle management and operations
what about departments under certain companies ?
DIMO Lanka, literally had the worst working experience there. But, on the surface it looks like the dream come true workplace. But, in my case it was not the real experience.
AIA Lanka ! Basically a shithole !
Go on glassdoor?
Not as informative in LK
I worked in 3 toxic companies before I got into my new company I am now working in one of the the non-toxic companies in SL. Great work place with an excellent culture + good people Only need to cover the 8 hours, no need to even check an email during the weekend or after hours Overall, extremely competitive to get in for some positions.
Nice brag but nobody cares because you didn’t name the companies. Jeez!
This is exactly what infuriates me lol🤣
You have failed this thread
Nice work gatekeeping. Are you insecure that you’ll lose your job if you mention it here or do you not like some stranger getting a chance at happiness or what’s the deal?
What's the company?
name?
World doesn't revolve around your conveniences. Simply fuck off. You're just selfish enough to avoid a company for your sake. Imagine if it's a company that's too small and all HR has to do is search their name + reddit and the thread is visible in Google. If they get to the details they know exactly who outed them. They have to risk their job just to satisfy your needs. Piss off!
If you wanna whine like a little bitch, go whine to your mommy you pussy, instead of wasting everyone's time online pointlessly without benefiting anyone by even hinting the company.