BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

AMA: Quit my job as a Product Manager at Jio within 2 months

I applied for the opening at JPL (Jio Pvt Ltd) in June of last year. Received the interview call on 4th July and concluded the entire process with the final HR round on 17th August (already painfully slow).

This was followed by a period of complete silence from the HR's end, which finally broke on 30th September (after probably 30+ follow-ups) when they gave me a verbal offer and gave me confidence for the final offer release within a few days.

Well, the final offer came on 27th December 2023, close to 3 months after the verbal offer (again, after probably 40+ follow-ups). Joined on 16th January 2024 (due to some emergency), and was treated to a GREAT campus in Navi Mumbai. --And this is probably where everything good with JPL ends.

After spending 2 days, I understand that things are not what I expected from any Product organisation, and that I made the wrong decision.

Gave myself 30 days to ensure the feelings were backed by more experiences, and I'm not acting impulsively. Day 31, I started interviewing with other organisations, and fortunately was able to get in touch with the HR from another organisation that I rejected for Jio, and they were kind enough to resend the offer letter.

Dropped the bomb on 8th March 2024, startling everyone because people usually don't like leaving their comfortable lives at Jio. My L1 and L2 aligned on a 14 days notice period, but the "smartasses" in the HR department thought its a great idea for me to serve the entire notice period of 60 days, and thus I'm stuck here till 6th May 2024.

Opening the forum for people with any amount of experience to ask questions about the hiring process, the culture, the turn-off, the decision to quit, ANYTHING.

13mo ago
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Round 1 by Grapevine
GroovyBoba
GroovyBoba

What did you not like?

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

There are a few reasons

  1. The culture is not Product conducive. There is no discipline around Product Thinking.
  2. Product Managers are not allowed read only access to the DB
  3. There are no KPIs/KRAs/Goals (my manager said this to my face). This means the growth internally would be factor of your rapport with the manager, and not skills. And either way, its majorly single digit appraisals
  4. No peer to peer learning because nobody is driven here. Horrible atmosphere for learning. Everyone has their egos at the tip of their noses, but wouldn’t be able to give the right answer when you ask them something
  5. My manager is a great human being, but a terrible Product Manager. There was nothing I would learn from him/her (there are a lot of instances where she showed clear lack of user empathy and prioritised features based on her “gut” feeling, sitting in an AC room)
  6. MacBook is seen as a luxury. I gave them a clear reason that I’ve been solely hands on Macbook for the last decade, yet I was given the cold shoulder because there was no “business” case for me, yet the Product Manager sitting right across me in the same team has one.

There are a lot more. Feel free to dive deeper into any of the mentioned points

FluffyCupcake
FluffyCupcake
Amazon13mo

Your manager joined(Jio) from which org?

SleepyCupcake
SleepyCupcake

Hey I don't know about the learnings and all but Jio is having the worst and toxic work culture I have ever seen....! Trust me...! Typical laaala culture where all the senior/managerial positions are held by some dumbass laaalas.

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

I agree. There is no thought put into requirements. A Lala at the top tells the puppets to build something, and they release a half baked product

SnoozyBurrito
SnoozyBurrito

Is it better to be called gay by your friends rather than gay people calling you friends?

QuirkyWalrus
QuirkyWalrus

Same boat, mate. Interviewed in October'22. Got a draft offer in November'22. After 100+ follow ups, got the offer at the end of April'23. Have been here since May'23.

And I can second everything you're saying. It's pathetic. Sycophancy of highest order. Name dropping to gain respect. Product culture is a big lol. Copy your competitors and keep stakeholders happy.

We make what our leaders found interesting while reading random blogs over the weekend. I've been waiting to cross 1 year mark.

SwirlyDonut
SwirlyDonut
Amazon13mo

When are you planning to switch?

SleepyTaco
SleepyTaco

This is exactly what’s happening in my org.

CosmicDumpling
CosmicDumpling

What makes it a terrible place

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

Since you are a recruiter yourself, I’ll share the blunders by the HRs (imo)-

Apart from the slow hiring process panning across 6 months, my time here after joining also has been quite bad.

My first request from the HR was that I wanted a MacBook since I’ve been hands on for the last decade. I was blatantly told no, because there was no use case for me. I clearly mentioned that my productivity will be hampered, but that didn’t matter to them. I would’ve still been okay if I was the first employee asking for a Mac, and there was a no Macbook policy, but the Product Manager sitting next to me (in the same team) was given one.

I tore my Achilles Tendon playing Badminton inside the office. After a 6 week recovery period, when I saw no improvement, I went to the doctor who suggested an MRI and further suggested I go for surgery. I had already resigned by then and had aligned on a 2 week notice with my L1 and L2. The HR however thought that it was unfair for me to leave without serving my notice period, despite no dependencies and a need for surgery, but because “it took me 6 months to get onboarded, I should atleast spend 2 months on notice”. I was dumbfounded to hear this, and have given up on all hope when it comes to Jio.

I’m sure there are a ton of reasons more, but these are the ones that stand out

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

For issues related to work, I’ve mentioned the same in other comments. Feel free to dive deeper into any one of them

SillyTaco
SillyTaco

Hey, how did you convince the HR in the other org that you want to switch from Jio in the short span?

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

Be honest. Told them exactly what was up, and all the recruiters appreciated it

SillyTaco
SillyTaco

Great! I am confused here, whether to reveal their toxic work culture, delayed and skipping salaries. I get this hiccups when they ask why the short tenure at the last XYZ Company.

WigglyRaccoon
WigglyRaccoon
Google13mo

Why you want to serve complete notice period? If you haven’t deducted any PF then move on; simply leave everything & go…

GigglyNugget
GigglyNugget

Exactly my thought. Or he can just take huge leaves in between as a worse case. Tell them you can pay me for 2 months but I'm not coming to the office or doing any work.

WigglyRaccoon
WigglyRaccoon
Google13mo

Maybe he is checking everyone responses & then will take action in future. 😉😅

TwirlyJellybean
TwirlyJellybean

Not so much different from Reliance Retail org's product culture. We people think it's great at JPL. But glad to know we're all on the same boat 🥲🥲

BubblyNugget
BubblyNugget

Right !

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

Retail has an added con of work pressure. Rest everything is the same.

Horrible across Reliance.

DerpyBoba
DerpyBoba
Student13mo

What tc did they offer also the new org bumped the pay up?

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

I’m at 34LPA here. Joined at the same CTC in the next org as well (since I gained no skills here at Jio)

FluffyCupcake
FluffyCupcake
Amazon13mo

Have you checked all the things in other org you going to join?

BouncyNarwhal
BouncyNarwhal

They have set the expectations pf toxic work hours, but amazing growth and learnings.

Anyday better than the shit I do at Jio everyday

Discover more
Curated from across