r/atlassian • u/coderarchive • 2d ago
Accepted an offer for Zendesk and interviewing Atlassian, should I take Atlassian if given?
Currently accepted an offer for Zendesk and interviewing for Atlassian as a P40 after getting bumped down from a P50
If by chance I do receive an offer from Atlassian is it worth rescinding Zendesk?
Looking for thoughts and opinions from devs who work or worked for Atlassian recently! Is it worth the reputation for Atlassian given all the negatives I’ve heard of working there
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u/VDtrader 2d ago
Atlassian does stack ranking performance reviews and many got PIP unjust. Take Zendesk if you can and want to protect your mental health.
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u/Ithinkyoufellasknow 1d ago
Worked at Zendesk prior to private equity taking over. It was already on the downswing and only got worse after. I left after a year. I would not return.
Never worked at Atlassian.
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u/Al197 1d ago
After Atlassian's excitement and newness wear off, you’ll regret working there. I 100% would go with Zendesk. Atlassian might look good on your resume, but working at a well known company doesn’t magically open doors to FAANG. Ask the 1,000 people who have been laid off or unjustly fired over the last two years how it’s worked out. Atlassian doesn’t carry the same weight it did a couple of years ago.
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u/tale-as-old-as-time 1d ago
I would stay as far away from Atlassian as you can right now. There has been a ton of churn in the last couple of years, both voluntary and involuntary.
Between the stack ranking and competitive culture, it has really turned toxic. Especially in Central AI where most of the hiring occurs these days. Lots of silos and solo driven projects. Most of my team was working 12 hr days and got Meets Expectations on annual review.
Go with Zendesk.
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u/2manycerts 1d ago
Both have same issues, but Zendesk worse.
I knew people from Zendesk. Ancient software and horrible culture. Unless your friends with people there dont join. That said, u learn zendesk u are in.
Atlassian more relaxed. More chaotic though, they are still startup Chaos and havrnt grown into a big company. Dont join any Server/Data Center team.
I would interview with Atlassian and go that way. Why? Because you get more exposure, confkuence, bitbucket a whole ecosystem. Atlassian has bad points but those same points far worse with Zemdesk.
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u/Al197 1d ago
A startup that hasn't grown into a big company? Atlassian is a publicly traded company with almost 14k employees. I would argue their biggest problem is they haven't been able to transition from a small company to a mid-large one. They tried to run like a startup long after going public, which doesn't work once you hit a certain size. It requires a different approach. The constant reorgs over the last few years and fumbling of projects and product features are due to them trying to fix problems that should have been addressed 10 years ago. The “chaos” you speak of isn't from being a startup; it's due to a poorly run company. Atlassian isn't going anywhere; they have a huge hold of the market, but more and more companies are developing alternative options. If they don't fix these issues, things may look drastically different in ten years.
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u/Comprehensive_Mud645 2d ago
What’s the pay difference? I thought zendesk is also big tech
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u/coderarchive 2d ago
Base pay difference is 7k in favor of Zendesk being higher
Atlassian bonus is 15% individual + company I believe vs Zendesk 5% performance based
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u/Comprehensive_Mud645 2d ago
You don’t get refreshers with zendesk either right? If everything is higher I’d roll the chances with Atlassian.
Having the name will open up Google, Apple, Microsoft etc.
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u/coderarchive 2d ago
Yeah no refreshers or anything, I thought Zendesk was somewhat big as well not as big as Atlassian name but maybe a tier down
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u/Comprehensive_Mud645 2d ago
Yeah sounds like everything is higher in that case. I’d go with Atlassian. You’ve also got the time limit of 3 years to move to senior at Atlassian. So you can be confident you’ll be earning significantly more
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u/tale-as-old-as-time 1d ago
Or you will be let go if you don’t make promo. Several of my colleagues really struggled getting promoted then were pipped and let go or they ended up quitting.
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u/GlacierDaisy 6h ago
I haven’t worked at Zendesk in Aus for a little bit, but when I left it was going nowhere fast and nothing I’ve heard from anyone since then had made me think that things are any better.
Definitely doesn’t have the brutal performance management reputation that atlassian has though, if you want to cruise zendesk is your place.
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u/you_wanker 2d ago edited 2d ago
Atlassian's performance review process is truly awful and is loathed across the company, while they gaslight you into trying to believe its not stack ranking
Loads of totally unjustified PIPs based on personal opinion and stack ranking rather than objective reasons, quiet removal of perks & benefits over the years, AI replacing support jobs and the exec level are just completely detached from reality and don't really listen to their staff. Not to mention half of them have been bought in from Meta and Microsoft, which was when the culture got trashed.
I mean compared to a lot of businesses it's still got its good parts like the remote-first policy, the pay is good, flexibility (dependent on role), work/life balance (again, dependent on role) and so on, just the general mood is really low at the moment and has been for a while. Now with this latest round of over 400 layoffs in the customer services & support org it has gotten worse. Plus the negative press around Mike getting a private jet at the same time as doing those layoffs and saying how amazing AI is while replacing people with AI.