What’s it like to work for Twitter? Not that great spills ex-employee

With soaring stock valued at over US$7-billion, Twitter, a veritable startup success story, has without doubt been one of the most desirable employers in Silicon Valley. However, revelations from recent ex-employee Adrien Gaarf may change that.

The San Francisco-based company’s ranks have, in a relatively short space of time, swelled from 150 to over 750. But in recent months, despite an expected IPO announcement which would be a windfall for those with stock options, it has seen a run of departures including founders, early investors, and key employees. When quizzed about the decision to leave the company, the stock response from departees has been a vague murmur about “new opportunities and ventures”.

Gaarf, a web developer who was head-hunted by the microblog two years ago, has taken an entirely different stand however. In a blog-post titled, “On Leaving Twitter” he gives the public its first “un-PRed” glimpse into the company’s going-ons.

As any smart employee would do, Gaarf starts off by giving the usual platitudes on how “working at Twitter has been an amazing experience”.

But the bulk of the post deals with the remainder of that sentence: “Working at Twitter has been an amazing experience, but a difficult, painful, and conflicted one.”

…internally, things are pretty tumultuous. Technical debt is shrinking but still sizable. Projects tend to be judged based on how clever their name is (I’ve learned lots of exotic bird names), and that tends to correlate with how popular the stakeholder is, not with objective value nor usefulness. Many folks have left in past few months, triggering waves of FUD [fear, uncertainty, and doubt] within the ranks. There are plenty of turf wars, and a lot of strong personalities with conflicting views as to what the product is, how it works, and what it means. Eventually, the kool-aid turned a bit sour for me.”

While that may seem harsh, Gaarf also notes that this is his “greatly self-censored story,” and it’s the only such account so far. So whatever else is going on in the corridors of Twitter remains a mystery.

Image: Twitter