Tech IndustryJul 27, 2018
Newredskies

Offer received but glassdoor reviews are garbage

I received an offer from a fintech startup that is pretty well-funded as a backend software engineer, and i didn’t think much about culture because people i interviewed with seemed very friendly and nice. I read through glassdoor reviews and all the positive ones sound fake, and all the negative stars call it out. They say the startup is doomed for failure because the product isn’t scalable and under the hype they’re all actually manually testing like robots. What should I do? Offer expires in a few days, and I hate my current company.

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Microsoft WoCE36 Jul 27, 2018

Remember Glassdoor reviews are skewed toward negative opinions, because happy employees don’t need to complain there and it’s not compelling to write a positive review either. So don’t buy Glassdoor shit

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redskies OP Jul 27, 2018

See that’s what i normally think as well. But what if all negative reviews say the exact same thing? Leadership is abusive, platform is unscalable, most key figures already left...

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KingBoo Jul 27, 2018

Maybe they are all written by the same person?

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fjTN53 Jul 27, 2018

So? Go there and fix shit. Automate their tests. Companies hire because they have problems and are looking for folks to solve it

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redskies OP Jul 27, 2018

I agree, but what if they made fake promises to investors and they’re scrambling to hide the fact? This company promised AI capabilities but apparently don’t have them and just have engineers manually test

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fjTN53 Jul 27, 2018

Well if they are lying and selling snake oil then run

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ECaD58 Jul 27, 2018

Startups are usually broken in different ways. Testablility of a product is by no means any indicator of business. People pay for the product utility and if there are customers that is best indicator. All other things are noise. Before joining see if you can meet and talk to actual devs. You shouldnt think you can go and change everything. You would have to learn zen amidst chaos if it comes to. Could be a learning experience, who knows.

Avegant Cryptozoid Jul 27, 2018

fintech is so 2015 bruh

Bloomberg bbwtf Jul 27, 2018

what’s 2018? crypto robot tech?

Cox Automotive PatM Jul 27, 2018

You can ALWAYS ask followup questions. Adk the hiring manager about the Glassdoor reviews directly. Ask him to talk to people who could respond in detail about them directly.

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Mojoman Jul 27, 2018

Don’t do what Cox automotive says. Start ups with crappy reputations like this are not necessarily looking for people to solve problems, but someone to use as a scapegoat. Because they know that their problems will never be solved, now it’s just a matter of extending themselves on life-support. What you should do is get a linked in premium subscription, find out former employees that worked at the company, including perhaps your predecessor, and then contact them for a confidential back channel reference check. In your situation though, it might not matter, since you hate your current company. So perhaps you move onto this new company, don’t update your LinkedIn profile for the first three months, but keep on looking elsewhere. Once three months pass by, you’re basically stuck there until the nine-month period. Then at the nine month period, put your resume out again so that by the time you jump ship to somewhere that’s better, you will have probably stayed there for a year and a half while also hopefully jumping ship to somewhere that’s better. It’s all a matter of timing, just like product management. Create a roadmap for your life.

Airbnb Airb&b Jul 27, 2018

You can trust Glassdoor reviews. I think there are diverse. You can always filter based on roles and dates and have better insights. Anytime I did not keep reviews on Glassdoor seriously I regretted that!

Salesforce lsSn48 Jul 27, 2018

Startup go through different phases. At the beginning, it’s all about building the product, testing does not matter. Then ease of deployment is more important. Then stability. Then scheduled releases. Etc. Transitions are never smooth. Startup may be at one of these transition point.