Similar to another review here, The major issues I experienced stemmed from under qualified and emotionally immature leadership. This dynamic not only limited opportunities for professional development but also took a toll on my mental and emotional well-being. Communication across teams was inconsistent and often non existent, with key information miscommunicated or withheld, fostering confusion and a general lack of trust. There were often times that people were purposefully left out of meetings where the features they were working on were being discussed.
Several of the managers I directly reported to lacked foundational management skills. Many struggled with essential responsibilities such as task delegation, giving actionable feedback, or effectively addressing team conflicts. Their lack of experience, coupled with personal insecurity, often led to controlling behavior and micromanagement, which diminished team autonomy, morale, and creativity
It was not uncommon for managers to respond to pressure with unpredictable emotional outbursts—ranging from anger to defensiveness—creating a tense and unstable work atmosphere. Rather than owning mistakes or working collaboratively to resolve issues, these leaders frequently shifted blame onto team members, contributing to a climate of fear and eroded accountability.
When reported to higher ups we were often told it was difficult to remove certain individuals as they were in various countries and the systems were different despite blatant favoritism, sexism, and racism by some parties. These occurrences were also reported to HR for documentation by many individuals.
Outside of all that there is also a distinct sign of moving jobs out of expensive areas in the US. More and more jobs are being offered for senior and below level in Spain, Israel, or South America with no option for US based roles. Scopely offers the ability to move teams within their org, but with this new development it is next to impossible for a non manager level to move to another team based in the US, let alone hire anyone new and with the growing layoffs in the gaming industry it just adds more despondency.
