

Zynga: the whole "they treat their employees badly" thing is a lie - ccyeh
http://charlesyay.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/zynga/
All that stuff about Zynga treating its employees terribly? I don't believe it. Maybe they just really really love what they do, maybe even more than you.
======
jmspring
Sorry to go against some of those who've already answered, but this account is
fairly superficial. An intern is not going to get the full experience of
employees at different levels. Further, Zynga has multiple studios, so I
suspect one studio may differ from another. Also the "I spoke with a friend @
Facebook and they work more", one subjective data point.

I don't work at Zynga, I've heard stories like others, but you know what, I
wouldn't assume anything about them until (if I did) I interviewed with them
and inquired about a position I was interested in. In general, gaming studios
work more than comparably sized non-gaming businesses.

This particular article/blog has no more merit than the stories of ZOMG ZYNGA
IS EVIL AND WORKS THEIR EMPLOYEES TO THE BONE.

My experience in the tech industry is, an employee will have expectations, a
company will have expectations. As the employee, it is your job to look out
for yourself and make sure that what you are getting into matches what you
want. You can easily get sucked into the day to day and forget or not realize
what you are giving up, you need to be aware enough to take stock from time to
time and ask "is this working for me?"

Just a minor (well major) nit... Quoting someone who says "my job is my social
life" -- if most of those hours are in the office working, you need to get out
and live a little. Especially if you are an employee and not a founder.

~~~
ccyeh
Thanks for your opinions, and you're right. If you don't mindlessly absorb
news articles, then great! You shouldn't absorb this one either.

Unfortunately lots of people do, so I thought it appropriate to address the
other side for very assuming people who absorb one-sided information.

~~~
famousactress
It's weird to me that "the other side" that anyone might care about is how
employees are treated. Frankly, I don't really give a fuck how a bunch of
incredibly smart and talented people in an awesome job market are treated. I
figure that's their (pretty easy) problem to solve.

If someone wants to write an article about "the other side" then write
something about the users for whom Zynga's products are actually providing
value as opposed to serving as artless black-holes of attention and
creativity.

~~~
ccyeh
I'm guessing you don't believe in games at all...? I think this would be more
of a discussion about whether games are a good thing at all, but that would
probably be mostly opinions.

~~~
famousactress
FUCK NO! Games are amazing. I think play is one of the most fundamentally
beautiful ideas in human society, and an art form really ripe and ready for
disruption, innovation, and well... play.

I think games have incredible (and untapped!) value, but I don't think Zynga
makes games. I think Zynga exploits game mechanics to make products out of
people.

------
pearkes
Does not putting in abnormal hours means you don't love what you do?

I find (personally) that I become more creatively and emotionally effective
when I've had rest, exercise, proper food and non-work social endeavors. I
don't remember the last time I stayed up past 2am for work, or a side project.
But I still love what I do, and want to do it well.

------
awa
An internship experience is totally different from a real job experience.
Great intnernship experience is totally about "Hey, I worked at a totally cool
project, got to hang out with smart people", A great real job experience needs
rewards and recognition, healthy culture, work-life balance apart from the
above.

------
uvTwitch
There's no possible way these recent positive-story-about-zynga bloggings are
bullshit PR-shill damage control. Zynga wouldn't do that, would they?

Oh, wait, yes they fucking would.

~~~
ccyeh
And how could I convince you otherwise? By pointing you to my portfolio site
or a linked in account?

Maybe this post is badly timed with all the other negative stories going
around, but I thought I'd just address one thing which I believe for sure
isn't fairly judged about Zynga.

~~~
uvTwitch
Which is more likely:

Manipulative scum-company is really actually a nice place to work

or

Manipulative scum-company has gotten really good at putting on makeup to hide
it's festering sores.

If you really are interning there, I urge you to leave as soon as possible,
and pursue something worthwhile. Persuading entranced people to click on ads -
for useless virtual bads or otherwise - is a waste of life and talent.

You only get one allotment of life; choose wisely how you spend it.

------
mikeryan
This post seems to be fairly focused on the hours worked. Long hours are only
one small contributing factor into the entire work environment. A point the
author may have unknowingly conceded by his reference to Facebook employees
working similar hours without the same reputation.

------
anxman
This is a great post and thanks for sharing it. While I've never worked at
Zynga, my friends that work there tell me that the culture is work hard and
get rewarded accordingly. A lot of people don't fit into that culture and it's
okay. It self selects.

For the people that complained about the culture just for the 'big payday',
then you missed the point all together.

~~~
kevingadd
Rewards don't justify overwork or poor work conditions.

~~~
ccyeh
I think that was the point of his comment. It's not about the payday, or the
rewards. If you totally and completely enjoy what you do, then work conditions
like these aren't poor. In fact, pretty much every game company, and many tech
companies have the same work conditions. I don't understand why Zynga is the
only one to get blamed for work conditions.

------
mike626
The quote from the article, “my work life sort of is my personal life.” is the
common attitude put forth by the sort of employees that a company like Zynga
attracts. Young, without family or interests outside of work.

A company with a focus on long term employees that will stay and focus on the
underlying structure that permits the business to exist will be more
interested in hiring and retaining employees with interests that encapsulate
more than simply staying late into the evening to "crush some code."

------
melwyn
Sound piece of advice to those who think grades are the ONLY factor in doing
well in life. Passion's more important than that.

