Nebraska Dave News and Reviews

Before I start this off, forgive me for the massive wall of text and hyperlinks that is forthcoming. I tagged a lot of the archived tweets basically paraphrasing what they said or giving the gist of the chain of tweets but as always, trust but verify and read them yourself. Putting this together was exhausting.

Rich Geldreich was an ex-employee of Valve who seemed to have some cachet. He was known for his work on OpenGL and Linux support with Valve up until he quit in 2013 or so. According to his tweets he just couldn't take it anymore

As an employee of Valve he had some credibility (at least according to that article; he's also got plenty of evidence to prove that he's legit (for example his site and not just some nobody or footsoldier).

About 3 days ago, he started going on a "brain dump" of his experiences with companies, specifically a "self-organizing" company. His past experience at Valve is displayed on his profile and Valve is very public about being a self-organized company, or at least giving off that appearance publicly:

https://www.frontrowagile.com/blog/posts/27-valves-culture-self-organization-and-scrum

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2015/07/13/the-5-types-of-organizational-structures-part-3-flat-organizations/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24205497

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303379204577474953586383604

, even going so far to mentioning Bellevue once or twice. Here is where things get crazy. Everything from corporate sketchiness, cliques, employee surveillance and monitoring to media manipulation and "Developer marketing" gets tweeted about and discussed, too many events line up with Valve's such as their massive employee layoff in 2013 lining up with the not!Valve

; and his referring to a round of layoffs in his tweets by this not!Valve company in 2013 matches up with this:

https://news.softpedia.com/news/Valve-s-Layoffs-Were-Prompted-by-Veteran-Group-Acting-Like-in-High-School-Ex-Dev-Says-366425.shtml

(that article already pointed towards the signs) and he's even mentioned to a few tweeters asking him questions that he's basically referring to Valve in all but name so as to avoid negative press attention and so forth.

I'll just straight-up dump what I've got archived. Its not everything; he really tweeted up a storm, and not all of this is verifiable post-2013/14, but keeping in mind that he left because of just how bad they were, implying they were really in the gutter when he did… I doubt they improved much but that's personal opinion. Here's the archives about Valve's internals:

https://archive.fo/NtWsF (basically explains Valve's structure)

https://archive.fo/7Scls (well-known physics coder (could dig on) got bullied; left because of shit environment; Valve is in Bellevue))

https://archive.fo/WP75O (Lifers at Valve will basically make newcomer's lives hell and ensure no competition can spring up against them)

https://archive.fo/rPfmg (basically you're a cog, replaceable, no job security, powerless, disposable)

https://archive.fo/X9KHL (Valve is controlled by mass anxiety)

https://archive.fo/6cjIX (look up "triangulation", it happens with Valve and also group consensus is very dangerous if its directed against you)

https://archive.fo/0GhA8 (Corporate arm has all the power; learn who the corporate managers and their friends are; controls and influences the "Self-organizing arm" with anxiety and fear)

https://archive.fo/ZkTv5 (if devs/teams get into battles with each other down to bring it can get really nasty, after a certain point the corporate arm can come in to "referee")

https://archive.fo/DSc9v (coding has to be done defensively including renaming your helper functions and whatnot; people can fuck up your code. don't ever rely on others and be careful)

https://archive.fo/Aru24 (earlier one expanded; Bloat matters far less than protecting your own skin, bonuses are key, mysterious "jankification" can occur)

https://archive.fo/Dzt49 (external forces can be hired by corporate arm, watch who controls them, power is key)

https://archive.fo/Tv8jU (once you get big yourself you should hire contractors (i.e. famous devs) to amplify your abilities and power at the company, always control their pay yourself)

https://archive.fo/0OLoL (NEVER ask for help; be indirect. people can and will fuck you over; its all about the bonuses)

https://archive.fo/uCJQT (working at Valve changes your coding style because of politics)

https://archive.fo/dkHw5 (how to get ahead in Valve)

https://archive.fo/lFZCD (Jesus christ; be careful when you do anything at Valve because they can fuck you out of your bonus)

https://archive.fo/1fYgK (Its basically the Hunger Games at Valve)

https://archive.fo/ifhwc (don't tell anyone outside your group about your resources or you can see them get ruined)

https://archive.fo/aDVmZ (just READ this please; a lot to explain)

https://archive.fo/ocwv0 (how anxiety and whatnot is (literally) managed at Valve)

https://archive.fo/4PaaO (personal opinions about the bonus-centric workplace)

https://archive.fo/0lM3G (Jesus christ)

https://archive.fo/MbJLX (The List; read this)

https://archive.fo/sOnqL (Strategic hiring and Developer Marketing; slimy as all hell READ THIS)

https://archive.fo/XE0TA (Strategic hirings being fast-tracked and "prepped", slimy as fuck)

https://archive.fo/WTqrr (apparently "low-value teams" exist and you should avoid them and stay with the sponsors and barons or else you will get fired no matter how critical you are; also explains one possible reason why he is sharing this: to help new hires to the company to get up to speed and avoid a lot of pain)

https://archive.fo/MBh78 (how he seemed to have avoided the purges)

https://archive.fo/hrVAX (how to build up "purge immunity"; involves spreading rumors about yourself)

https://archive.fo/BzdSu (avoid people who act badly toward you at all costs)

https://archive.fo/orPBs (just fucking read this please)

https://archive.fo/k07u1 (being a public figure is all but necessary, doing anything good internally is almost useless. Press attention is key as is moonlighting)

https://archive.fo/J2ZLF (no one to "officially" report to in terms of managers, HR is worthless; basically an untamed wilderness where everyone knows who the strongest are)

https://archive.fo/k9BiE (just fucking read this please; involves surveillance)

https://archive.fo/RMPIv (the more skilled you are, the more likely you are to be fucked over; if you want to do well as a newcomer, improve a clique member or Baron's code only slightly so that they look like a genius)

https://archive.fo/e0nYP (Logic behind their offices and shit; kinda fucked up)

https://archive.fo/BeJk2 (personal opinion that they need on-site therapists at these places because of all the anxiety problems)

https://archive.fo/c5gOm (suggests using adaptogens to cope with the stress; anxiety and other shit are how the corporate arm controls the self-organized arm; also bonuses are kind of "king of the hill"-like in how they work)

And concerning Valve's media manipulation:

https://archive.fo/789WI

https://archive.fo/dgV0k

https://archive.fo/H7zs9

https://archive.fo/VnrxO

https://archive.fo/rgJ1k (further confirmation this is Valve he's talking about; this came in the middle of this)

These I'm unsure if they are referring to Valve or not, but no matter which company they are referring to, they are extremely sketchy:

https://archive.fo/BEpku (Don't have your company co-sign your mortgage.)

https://archive.fo/ydHd3 (don't do anything too in private at certain companies, have multiple people watching because it changes the tone)

https://archive.fo/T7AsC (Social network draining; read this)

Basically… it doesn't look good at all.

It looks like outlets (or at least one) are starting to pick up on this,

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/valve/274982/former-valve-employee-reveals-horrors-of-games-industry-corporate-culture

But that's all I've got. I'll leave you to your own interpretations and ideas on this person's credibility but I think there is a lot of evidence and just events at Valve in general over the past 4 or so years that really does not support them as a good company to work at or anything.