When I joined there was not much info on the work culture, appraisals and work. Being here for more than a year, I think I just got a complete picture to share with everyone here.

I understand that people are excited by the high/market beating salaries at OCI offered in last few years but there are some hard hitting truth bombs behind the scenes.

1. Work - It's opeartion heavy work with very hectic and draining on-calls. There are very few greenfield projects and chances are 80+ % of time will go into operations i.e. no coding/design.
2. Culture - Work expecatation is very high, there is hardly any work life balance. On-call shifts are almost 12 hours long and alerts are very high numbered. I know people who could not get time to even have lunch during that week. People are helpful but most are over worked and under appreciated.
3. Appraisal - They follow bell curve model where it's absolutely necessary for them to mark some people 2(even if they have performed well). 2 here means "Needs improvement" and can be allotted based on human bias as well. 2 means no hike, no bonus and no stocks. There is only one cycle of compensation change. Those meeting above expectations are weighted in gold but mind you the bell curve model, only few get it.

Lesson here for everyone joining OCI, please be prepared to work 12+ hours a day, negotiate maximum when you join(don't fall for "work is good"), and be prepared for no appraisal after almost 2 years of working your a** off. I would suggest to look for more employee centric companies where there is space to grow and recognition as per effort not based on copied system.

PS - These are my personal opinions. Feel free to take it with pinch of salt. "OCI is just another Amazon".