I joined Samsung this year, and my experience is nothing but shocking & weird... I have never experienced such a cultural shock or been in an unfriendly work environment. 1. No diversity at all.. 90% ppl are Koreans & ppl from Korea keep visiting the US and work from 8 AM - 10 PM in the office. They keep spying on workers here and update higher management in Korean Headquarters. 2. Secretive / non collaborative / racism Most ppl speak Korean & send emails in Korean and I don't know what my teammates speak during meetings / during office hours. They don't collaborate with non-koreans well or be friendly.. everyone is in their own bubble. When I try to mingle or talk to my teammates or other cross-functional teams they respond in 2 - 3 words, yes, no, ok, will update, thanks.. haha that's it... nothing more than that. I feel like I am being spied on all the time, basically, everyone thinks they are secretive agents & work non-stop like robots, keep a look at what others are doing and talk in Korean with their counterparts.. I think I was a diversity hire... lol 3. Outdated tech stack There is absolutely no cloud used everything on premise they say our data will not be safe on public infra, Servers and versions are outdated The internal communication tool sucks, I miss teams/slack. Everyone keeps running the show in excel / PDF files The internal company website is developed using Sharepoint not even a good website You cannot open any excel/word / ppt / pdf without decrypting, any files stored on the laptop are encrypted that cannot be shared or opened using any third-party tools or apps. Eg: I need to open PDF in only adobe, not in Foxit or other apps I need to request IT to add exceptions and they will enter an OTP every time I install any new tools/code packages 4. Nontechnical ppl in Top Management Top management ppl are unaware of advancements happening outside or what other companies are doing since they have been in the same company for over 2 - 3 decades... They are reluctant to any changes or upgrades.. they only think what they know or doing is right 5. Samsung US in a puppet show Every decision or advancement happens in Korea, ppl in the US are here for just namesake, and all they do is take orders from Korea and do what they say, nothing else... There is no data/plan or any future steps shared with teams in the US, ppl here are surviving just because they can't find any jobs outside since their skills are outdated and they have no choice. The performance is rated on how long you stay in the office ( in person) the longer you stay, my boss thinks I am working hard... If I stay after 6 PM they are very happy, my boss appreciates me stating I am working well good keep it up.. no matter I do nothing I need to just stay in the office and they think I am working hard.. lol I am curious to listen to what my other Samsung colleagues / EX Samsung ppl think about this? Have you all experienced something similar? TC: 160 #culture #officelife #workplace #samsung #samsunglife
All sites other than korea are just puppets
Worked at Samsung 10 years ago. Seems nothing changed.
Do they still use that shitty Knox to communicate? I remember one funny incident from my time when my manager asked to address Koreans in the emails by Mr. X Kim rather than just Hi X to show respect. I was like WTF.
I have worked at Samsung Australia and South Korea in the past. Chinese companies are no better, but imo TikTok has friendlier people and modern tech.
SSI?
That culture worked for Korean companies and Koreans and they are a multi billion dollar conglomerate. It’s more of a patriarchal style and ideas from juniors are not entertained. Most of your rant is not true. I agree Samsung is different but not weird. They have a lot of history and reasons why they are like that but it’s changing. There are lot of things to appreciate about that company than point negatives. How do you work knowing it’s so weird for you there and not quit?
Sounds like a Samsung spy!
Pretty much spot on. It's an old school Korean company. All the decisions are made by a few people up top. Almost nothing is decentralized. There's a reason it's not publicly traded.
OP- what division are you in? Smart things?
You talking like a Korean wannabe 🙄 which division are you in, SEA, SRA, SSI ?
One of my colleagues in the PhD lab got a job in Samsung in Korea. He was happy that he was going back and said that he has to prepare himself to work for 14-16 hours day.