Vikram Joshi

Long, stressful hours. Unhealthy levels of pressure and overwork. Constant churn. Xcalar was an extremely stressful and high-pressure job. Common example of pressure: a project/task is given to folks at the last minute, with a tight deadline. It's an important project that will influence a customer/sale, etc. so they get under huge pressure to deliver. In the rush, bugs slip in. Now, there's a mad dash to fix the bugs (more pressure...), sometimes, with a same-day resolution needed. This is on top of already heavy workloads, of course. Another example of pressure - being told to step up the pace / given tasks with extreme workloads, with the hint that your job will be negatively impacted if you don't do it. Few additional cons: WFH is not encouraged. Can be difficult to WFH for a day if needed (unless you're sick. No one expects you in if you're sick. Everyone is kind about that.) There are remote/partial remote employees so it is possible - if you need to WFH on occasion, I'd advise sorting it out with them before you start working.... Very long hours, regularly... Small, open office environment, and privacy can be difficult to come by... Folks come in the office sick often (heavy workloads, minimal sick days, and anti-WFH culture all contribute to this I believe. I can understand why people do it..)... Very little/no "downtime" at Xcalar - Instead of churning for awhile then having a little rest (like many places), it's just constant churn.... Arrogant culture, I do not recall humility (company/culture as a whole I mean; there are humble individuals)... Time off is strict, and not too competitive. 2 weeks PTO + 5 sick days, but accruing throughout the year (so you won't have any time available when you begin)... Non-engineers get canned or leave pretty regularly. It's a revolving door for sales, etc.... Finally, I observed a hierarchy at Xcalar my entire time there - Main developers are at the top. Beneath this - other engineers (product, devops, etc.). At the bottom rung - employees not in directly technical roles (sales, etc.). My personal experience - People on lower rungs tend to get treated with less respect, and seen as not as competent/worthy as those above. (most people there are kind and treated everyone great - it's an observation of the larger culture). Shameful and sad to have experienced this first hand. This made an already stressful job even worse, because I often felt belittled, disrespected, and worth less as a person, simply because of my job description... A final note regarding churn/pressure/overwork: a lot of this is probably due to lack of resources to complete tasks. Maybe as Xcalar hires more employees, these things will change.