A lot of us vs them. Doesn't matter, team, function, division, office location. Doesn't matter, whatever you're in, the other people are wrong. Sydney is wrong and rubbish, if you're in Melbourne. This team is incompetent if you're in the other team, even if they are the same function.
A lot of the work is largely pointless. Spend a lot of time doing reports rather than solving problems. Reports that no-one reads, and doesn't achieve anything other than justifying a team that are significantly larger than they need to be.
Everyone seems to have been there for decades and nothing changes. While there is a restructure that is clearing a few managers out. It is only going to change when the dinosaurs get removed. Since no one leaves the company, and they don't change, there are no career opportunities. Waiting for your manager to leave seems to be the prevailing strategy.
I had the single worst manager I've ever experienced. He didn't know things a graduate would know, wouldn't make any decision. Was incapable of problem solving so if he didn't already know the end result or there wasn't a company policy on how to do something step by step, he just wouldn't do anything. He couldn't communicate.
The quality of engineering here is poor. Many including managers cannot read basic technical documentation, some don't even understand core parts of their role they've spent a decade or more doing.
Part of it is the system that bogs them down, but the amount of work completed is tiny relative to the amount of people they have. They think their limited knowledge scales to every situation, without context. So they over-commit and start works they don't know anything about.
Pay is low relative to industry. But full credit, they do ask less of you.
Resistant and unwilling to change. They don't want to hear what is bad or needs to change or what other companies are doing.
