|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Jul 20th, 2017 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
Software Developer
|
Houston, TX
|
|
Good perks from an unstable company
|
|
Extra benefits were nice: stocked kitchen with free snacks and trips out to lunch on Fridays.
|
The "perks" were in lieu of competitive wages. Poor health of company led to many layoffs.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Aug 9th, 2016 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
|
Argentina
|
ARG
|
Amazing company
|
|
Great salary, good for the first job
|
Many juniors on the team. Managment team so young.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
|
|
0.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Aug 1st, 2016 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
|
Houston, TX
|
|
Do Not Work Here
|
|
Hours and location are about all they have. Their employees are the only asset to the company.
|
The Co-Founders are directly responsible for and have a tremendous influence over the broad work environment.
Before I start with more recent events, I’d like to bring you up to speed on MediaFire. First, I am a former employee and was laid off in 2014 on what we call “Black Monday.” MediaFire had just launched its new desktop tool called MediaFire Desktop. Due to poor product design by the Co-Founders, it was riddled with bugs, randomly deleted customer data, and didn’t gain much traction. Especially when compared to more stable products being offered.
This resulted in Black Monday, their first round of layoffs, and a continued decline in their value. Approximately 50% of their employees were swiftly let go that day. Shortly after, a Co-Founder stepped down as CEO and was replaced by another Co-Founder. To pivot their decline in market value and again under the direction of the Co-Founders, MediaFire began to build Pool. Like previous ventures, Pool too failed and during a brief conversation, their monetization department, I was told only one person installed this new picture sharing app prior to it being pulled from the market.
Earlier this year, another Co-Founder was suddenly forced to step down as the previous Co-Founder returned to begin another round of layoffs. This time, it’s estimated 80% of their employees were informed they are part of a staged layoff process. Again, this is due to MediaFire’s continued decline in market value as indicated by attritions noticed in uploads, downloads, and overall site visits.
To drastically reduce their overhead, MediaFire closed their office, and migrated to a virtual work at home company. As a previous employee, I view this as a move to fragment employees and discourage discussions as employees staged to be laid off secretly disappeared from their ranks. Then after rumors of MediaFire’s desktop tool continuing to eat customer data, this past weekend it too was deprecated.
I am concerned for the people I enjoyed working with and share this to bring to light the type of Co-Founders MediaFire has, their overall business acumen, and inability to foster a positively productive working environment. For a great service, it seems to have been ran into the ground. Many of the people I admired and visited with each day were left feeling abandoned. Some, still not knowing their fate or expiration date.
I hope glassdoor does not take down this article. It is based on my first hand experiences as a former MediaFire employee, the stories we now share at get togethers, Christmas parties, and chats when we randomly run into each other. None of us wonder what will happen with their new venture, Fast.io. What’s that old adage? History always repeats itself.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
I believe these people can't be taught. As stated in my article, history always repeats itself.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Feb 25th, 2016 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Great small company to work for
|
|
There's a small-culture feel due to the size of the company. They seem to care about their employees!
|
Sometimes it felt like I couldn't get my voice heard.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
I believe everyone at the company should have a say in the product, not just upper management.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Aug 28th, 2014 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
User Experience Designer
|
Shenandoah, TX
|
|
Smart team with great potential, shaky management.
|
|
As far as I know it's the only place in the greater Houston area where you'll be able to work on a product for mobile/web/desktop that is used by millions of people around the world — hundreds of thousands on a daily basis.
There are some very smart people working here and you'll end up in/overhearing a mind bending conversation...or just hear someone yelling "get out!" like Arnold Schwarzenegger which is always a treat. If you're a developer/engineer or designer, you will be surrounded by dedicated and talented co-workers that have vast amounts of knowledge that is constantly expanding.
Office managers do their best to keep the kitchen stocked and plan events for employees. Weekly group lunches every Thursday paid for by the company. They have Yin Yoga class on Mondays and depending on people's schedules, board games on Tuesdays. There's also a ping pong table as well as a pool table. Ping pong tournaments are things that happen here.
4 day work week with 10 hour days (unless you're an hourly employee or decide to keep a traditional 5 day work week.) Flexible with emergency/last minute days off, but you have to make up your time during the same week.
Pretty decent insurance where you end up with a fairly low copay amount.
Opportunities to learn are there if you make yourself available to them and people are willing to help you out with any bumps in the road you might come across. Just speak up. I have personally gained a lot of knowledge and expanded my skill set by working here.
There is a large male to female ratio which might make some weary, but there haven't been any situations where a woman would feel uncomfortable. Everyone is treated equally (I'm a female).
Overall, the atmosphere is nice and accommodating and the people are good natured.
|
Shenandoah/The Woodlands is a dull area and as far as I know they highly prefer that people work at the office — though they do allow occasional work from home days and there are a very small number of employees that work remotely.
Management needs to come up with a long-term plan of how they want to see a project through. It seems like they have some ideal vision they'd like to reach, but foul themselves up with indecisiveness and a lot of back and forth. This leads them to miss the boat and have competitors beat them to the punch with similar features. They've got good ideas and need to find a way to harness that and push out an even higher-quality product within a decent timeframe.
Some projects might be put on hold for weeks at a time to address an emergency issue or just be put off indefinitely after putting a good amount of hours into them. There are a lot of "just for now" fixes and rash decision making that will end up backfiring later.
Not a lot of thought is put into new projects: no real time spent researching, no user testing, and no explanation for certain decisions that leave employees confused and frustrated.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
1.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
Take some time to make a project roadmap and discuss it with the team. See if everyone feels good about it and is on the same page (meaning the people working on it, not just management.)
Your company wide meetings that started in January are a step in the right direction, but it still feels like a lot of decisions are made under cloak and dagger. Embrace true transparency and you'll see people feeling more comfortable and being more open with you about their thoughts and concerns.
If employees speak out about how they feel about something, listen to and consider what they're saying before coming up with justifications and excuses. Have one-on-one meetings every month to see where employees are in their workflow and how they're feeling about what they're doing because the once a year review isn't much to go on. This will help you connect with employees on a more personal level where right now they might be afraid to say anything critical, even if it's well intentioned.
Have more company events out of the office or maybe after hours to build more cohesiveness and culture. Let employees know that they are appreciated and will be rewarded for putting out good work.
MediaFire has really great potential, but don't take the people that spend all their days working for you for granted.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
May 26th, 2014 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
Anonymous
|
United States
|
USA
|
Good times, weak pay and young company.
|
|
Great people, relaxed atmosphere, never going hungry, events & games.
Worked with some of the smartest people in the industry here. Learned a lot and had a mostly good time. Anytime I was eager to learn something new, someone was willing to teach it. Culture fosters creativity and no one feels like an office drone here.
|
Low pay- this is the main contributor to their mediocre turnover rate. Many lower level employees are entry level and put up with the pay until something else comes calling. It's all business.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
4.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
Consider making salaries more competitive.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
May 20th, 2014 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
QA Engineer
|
Shenandoah, TX
|
|
The 'Ol Carrot and Stick Approach.
|
|
Not really too much to put here. Weekly lunches built cohesiveness but not much else to brag about.
|
Low pay, often asked to work OT with little to no notice, they employ the 'Carrot and stick' routine in regards to promotions (nobody ever gets promoted). They advertise personal offices and choice of platform on a state-of-the-art machine for your office but most employees are jammed into a big warehouse/room working on outdated PCs. They advertise a 'relaxed dress code' but if you have tattoos they will ask you to cover them up. Their 'stocked kitchen' is junk food from the $1 store. They try to present themselves as a professional IT entity but over time their actions erode that professional veneer and expose the indecisive and frankly unprofessional mess that is beneath it.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
Take the chip off your shoulder, come back down to Earth, and work with your employees. Lose the inflated ego, you still advertise yourself as a "Top 100 Alexa Company" but you haven't been in the top 100 for some time now (#170 Global, #406 in US as of writing this) and continue to plummet. Change while you still have the chance to change.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Feb 17th, 2014 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Management is nice, but it is sometimes not clear what they are trying to achieve.
|
|
I enjoyed working at Mediafire. Stakeholders are understanding and nice. Pleasant to work with them. They will get involved with the work you are doing considering some of them were former software developers themselves.
A family-oriented company. Good work/life balance. Flexible schedule. Strong culture and values.
|
Decisions are sometimes made on the fly without everyone's knowledge. Some of the decisions they initially make do not make sense, then they will learn the hard way, and backtrack to address this decision. By this time, it is usually too late.
Below average compensation. Low benefits. Employee reviews only once a year.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
Spend more time researching on user experience and what works and doesn't. Break free from what you want and address the issues and needs of end users.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Feb 17th, 2014 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
|
Shenandoah, TX
|
|
A professional mask is put on for new hires, but slowly degrades over time, exposing negative truths about the company
|
|
The people are great, nice, and will understand and learn from any issues or advice you confront them with; there's always work to do even if it's small or trivial; overtime available to hourly employees; paid time off and vacation time; stocked kitchen; company lunches every week; full insurance benefits; pay checks every week; flexible hourly schedules allow you to take extra time during the day as needed, such as taking a long lunch.
|
Management does not listen to their employees and customers strong opinions and deep concerns about future growth of new and current products. This causes more headaches for everyone in the company as well as the company's customers, since the concerns that were ignored and shoved under the table eventually turn into a real world problem, which must be addressed before moving further. Often the solution to problems were to band-aid them now, rather than fix them properly for the long haul. This caused problems to arise faster than they were being fixed. There is also a lack of communication between management and employees in several areas, but the biggest being in the goals that get set and where the company wishes to move forward; employees get pulled to do different pieces of work throughout the day, rather than staying focused in one piece of work, since goals change often.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
Listen to the employees concerns and what the customers have to say, they aren't your enemies and often it will help fix things sooner rather than encountering issues later. Keep a transparency communication channel open with the employees, let them know with at least a day's notice of goals that change or even have the possible chance of changing. Be more proactive with customers, let them know what's going on, what the company's goals are, and what the company is doing week to week to move forward and improve the products; customers like this sort of thing, even if they say they don't--it lets them know that you're not just taking their money, but you're actually doing something with it too.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|
|
private:mediafire
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=402386
|
Jan 22nd, 2014 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
MediaFire
|
|
Shenandoah, TX
|
|
The people are nice and the work is interesting, but management lacks a cohesive strategy.
|
|
Low-key but fun company culture; flexible hours; weekly paycheck; a stocked kitchen and weekly company lunches; interesting challenges and varied work.
|
The two main problems are lack of transparency and ever-shifting goals. Management doesn't communicate with employees often or thoroughly enough to cultivate a clear company vision, and the goals and strategies communicated often end up changing on the fly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
402386
|
Open
|
Try to become more transparent. Hold more frequent meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page. Take more input and give it more weight.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
Mar 20th, 2021 11:55PM
|
MediaFire
|
|
|