Vantaggi
1. Great launchpad to start working. Multiple teams work on multiple different technologies. There are product teams that focus on Java or Javascript (Node). There are dedicated frontend teams that work with Angular, React, etc. 2. Ample time and support given to learn. One of the few companies where I have seen architects, AVPs, and VPs actually think about what is best for their employees while keeping in mind the product. 3. Good support for experimentation. Do you want to do something new? Sure, put in a proposal and you'll be given a stage to try. It does not matter if you fail, you will be appreciated for the effort to try new things. 4. Seniors are neck-deep with tacit knowledge. You'll find most of the senior folks have been with the company for at least 8-10 years. They have seen the tech ecosystem change around them and have wonderful insight into how things were before and why things are the way they are today. 5. Zero micromanagement. When you're given a task, seniors tend to also give you an estimated completion date. If required, they will help you break down the tasks. But nobody is breathing down your spine for updates as long as you are able to meet the deadlines or reach out proactively to highlight blockers. 6. Flexible Work Timings. One of those places where it is okay if you've to be away from the keyboard for an hour or two, as long as your work is done and you're not required for urgent discussions. Very few people work past 6PM. 7. Great Health Insurance - one of the best I've seen across product companies. 8. Free transportation to and from the office, if you prefer working from the office. (Not cab, but bus) 9. Campus is shared with Infosys. It is one of the most beautiful campuses which does not look like a concrete jail. Lots of breathing spaces, outdoor working spaces, and cafeterias (although paid, but subsidized). You've bicycles to roam around the campus, 2-3 gyms, a bowling alley, and a swimming pool. You also have access to all Infosys campuses in India. You can stay in the Employee Care Centre (ECC) when you are on a personal holiday in India. The Mysuru campus is nothing short of a 4-star hotel, the Mangaluru campus is in between a man-made forest! ECC stay costs are subsidized for employees and families and are at least 50-60% cheaper than the cheapest hotel of similar quality. 10. Multiple internal platforms to explore alternate career choices. Are you a developer who wants to get into Consulting? We have a Bridge program. Are you a tester who wants to get into development? Take up a Lex course (which is the internal academy where you have teachers teaching you tech with hands-on learning) and apply for a switch internally.
Svantaggi
While there are very good points of why you should choose Edgeverve, you must also be aware of what is the trade-off. 1. The pay hikes and promotions are laughable. If you perform exceptionally well, you might get a 10% hike on a good year. Expect average hikes of 0-4% per year even if you work exceptionally well. Promotions entail only a 12% hike. This is a service-based mindset in a product-based company. 2. Promotion cycles are unclear. Nobody knows when to expect a promotion. Even managers (and their managers) are generally unaware of when a promotion cycle starts, how much time it takes to get promoted, what are the criteria, etc. Spoken to a lot of folks, but everybody has their own take on how promotions are done. HR hides behind an excuse that this is confidential and promotions are handled on a case-by-case basis. 3. Because of point 1, it is very easy to drop way below the market average. I have been here 4 years and I have been speaking to a few folks in other product-based companies. From the looks of it, an average developer earns at least 30-35% more than me. It is very easy to get soaked into the work and fall in love with the harmonious environment that Edgeverve creates. But this is what makes one blind to the market pay. 4. Stagnation is a big problem. If you are not constantly upskilling, you can get away with working 1 hour a day, only to realize 4 years later that you are not fit to do any other job except Edgeverve's. Keep upskilling and building personal projects. 5. Edgeverve trusts that their employees will spend their time judiciously and deliver things on time. Most of the folks do, but some outliers take advantage of this and are never available. They become bottlenecks to get things done and what is a 1-hour job takes 4-5 days. You will have to be a part of the bureaucratic hellhole of email chains and "gentle reminders" to overcome this. 5. Management uses the reason, "this is because of Infy management" like it is a credit card without limits. If you ask any questions about anything remotely related to employee compensation, the Edgeverve management conveniently says they've put forward a proposal to Infy management and it is they who are sitting on it. 6. Performance Bonus payout percentages are never justified. The performance bonus is a part of your CTC. When the company did exceptionally well, breaking all the records it had set previously, the best-performing employee got a performance bonus of 110%. When the company anticipates a global slowdown (focus on the word "anticipates"), the best employee gets a 70% performance bonus payout. 7. Positive news is paraded with drums and elephants, but negative news is hidden and employees get to know about this from Economic Times or Money Control. Case in point: In the year that they had rolled out a 110% hike, the CTO and President sent out company-wide mailers. This year, we are still anticipating when (and if) we will get our hikes and there have been 0 emails from anyone. 8. Hike cycle is erroneous. Most of the employees spend time being anxious during the months of June, July, August, and September. This is not documented, but the general norm that Edgeverve followed was that hikes would be rolled out in June, effective the previous April. But this never happens on time and there is no date set to when it will happen. Sometimes the hike letters come in June, sometimes in July, sometimes in August. The hike letters for this time (FY22-23) have not yet been rolled out and we have no information on if we will get it or not. (Writing this on 17th October 23) 9. Appraisals don't work. You've 2 evaluations that you do every year. Sometimes the person evaluating you might be a senior who you have never worked with. Feedback lacks quality. Most of the time, the person doing the appraisal looks at what you've written in your self-evaluation, converts active voice to passive voice, and plays the rating roulette to give you a random rating. This drastically reduces your chance of identifying areas of improvement in yourself and improving those. The only outcome is that it leaves you with a superiority complex, which will be broken the minute you step outside Edgeverve. 10. Most of the mid-level folks follow the "If it is not needed, don't do it" attitude. I have not seen this in seniors (architects, vps, avps, principle product architects, etc) but in tech leads. As a resource, it is best you start interacting with the architects and other seniors who have the enthu rather than your tech lead who doesn't. Their lack of interest in doing new things (and probably failing) is what might rub off on you and make you a dud.