Completely ruled by a small group of power-mad dictators who can have you executed on demand. If you are one of the select few they like, you can do no wrong. For the rest, its praying that you don't cross their radar. I imagine this is what it must have been like in Saddam's Iraq
The dictators and their cronies think they are the best engineers in all areas. Its not uncommon for a design to change based on their *feelings* on how it should look. Their OPINION trumps all. I know a team who worked on an idea for 2 months only to have it shot down by a dictator in 2 minutes with "that is terrible idea" and no other explanation given
As many reviews says, random firing are common and there is never a reason given. In fact, people only find out somebody is gone when they go to their desk and it's empty
Turnover is terrible with entire teams quitting or getting fired all at once
Long hours with no thought given to time zones or weekends