|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Apr 9th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Senior Backend Engineer
|
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
5+ years; It's still my dream job.
|
|
- Meeting/working with great people & making friends
- Working @ Home
- Promotions, Salary, & Raises
- Time to work favorite OSS projects aka #5ftf
- Flexibility with hours (around our 9-5pm EST workday)
- Generous PTO
- A truly advanced WordPress culture
- Tooling freedom
- You learn a TON from other VERY talented people
- Closer relationship to owners of the company than vs. corporate
- Leadership that are people-people before they are business-people
- Control/say over your position/place in the company
- 401k and Retirement benefits w/ matches!
- Small and humble feeling company
- Strategy department
- Low turnaround, employees often spend years at WDS
- Continued education further learning opportunities
- Yearly meetups for recharging, relaxing, and meeting everyone
- Equipment stipend (Macbooks, Software)
|
- You have to work REALLY HARD sometimes
- We often don't tell our clients no, sometimes we have to work even harder because of it
- Time tracking can be a pain and sometimes confusing, yes, but I've never been talked-to about it
- Lots of calls sometimes, we move really fast and you might get stuck on lots of calls hashing things out
- Constant workflow changes & differences from project to project
- You have to be self-motivated and organized to keep up sometimes, you'll excel if you can!
- Too many projects at times, we can get really busy quickly!
- We sometimes quickly jump into a project with little info and it can be difficult in the beginnings
- Sometimes things move really fast technology-wise and it can be hard to keep up
- People at this company can be highly opinionated, be prepared to defend yourself!
- Some projects struggle and it's often difficult when they do
- Sometimes you do work you don't necessarily enjoy as much for the benefit of the project and the client (but rarely)
- Sometimes you can feel isolated working @ Home/Online
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
- Train/give leadership more power to say no (wisely) to clients
- Simplify time tracking
- Plan better earlier to reduce calls and friction later
- Offer more guidance when it comes to stress management; things can get stressful sometimes
- Continue to encourage respectful discussion of differences; sometimes it's hard for people to speak up against leadership
- Check-in with employees more on how they are doing at the company; with how fast we move continued feedback is welcome
- Continue to encourage tooling freedom; let developers work how they want to work e.g. Vimmers and Linux/Windowz peeps
- Don't lose that humble/small culture; it's the most valuable thing you have
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Apr 9th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Employee
|
|
|
Great Company
|
|
Thrilled to be a part of this team.
|
I have none yet. Very happy here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Jan 8th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Software Engineer
|
|
|
Cliques and Micromangement
|
|
The atmosphere is fun and everyone is cool.
|
You need to justify everything you do, every minute of every day, no matter what, even posting to Slack when you leave your desk for a bathroom break or to get a drink. No one complains, because there's a highly toxic "yay, family" environment. Unfortunately, this establishment-worship is a toxic part of agency culture as a whole, where if you don't fit in with the crowd and kiss butt, you're screwed.
They hire people and don't even know what they need. Promotions and praise are all based on how popular you are, which is in turn based on how much you can multitask to help other people do their jobs while working overtime (without pay) on your current work. They claim to have flex time, but using it is frowned upon. They claim to support continuing education, but want you to log only billable hours. Their equipment reimbursement is abysmal, especially considering that they're a fully remote company.
You cannot criticize management or processes at all without risking your job, and the effects are being trickled down to clients. Clients themselves, and their needs, are not being taken seriously and the clients are being blamed for poor product management.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
Ultimately customers do not care how "cool" you are or what your talk is like, they want results and for an Agile team to actually practice the Scaled Agile Framework. Your product owners need to actually have product ownership experience and you need to Scrum correctly.
|
0.0
|
[{"countHelpful": 0, "languageId": "eng", "userJobTitle": "Chief Operating Officer", "__typename": "EmployerResponse", "originalLanguageId": null, "id": 3148286, "responseDateTime": "2021-04-08T04:11:14.3", "translationMethod": null, "response": "It is a fair statement to say in order to succeed at WebDevStudios, employees must be comfortable with the nature of agency work: tracking time, being somewhat flexible on project methodology. True Agile/Scrum methodologies work well for some clients, but not so for others - it honestly depends on the scope of the project.\n\nIn terms of hiring and promotions, we are keenly tuned into our current needs based on the work we have on board. I would disagree with promotions and praise being a 'popularity contest' as I am aware of how the process works, especially now that we have our career progression matrix in place - we can be a lot more transparent in regards to the rationale for promotions. We genuinely welcome any questions or feedback you may have in regards to any specific incident that gave you the popularity contest perception.\n\nI wholly disagree with the characterization of flex time - we offer this as a benefit to all and expect that all will take advantage of it, as needed. The only thing we require is sufficient communication ahead of time, which is reasonable in any work environment. In regards to time tracking and feeling the need to track every minute of every day - including bathroom breaks or to get a drink - I apologize if that is your perception and if that was communicated to you by anyone in this company, I would like to address that by saying we do not require that level of micromanagement. It is always a good thing to let your co-workers know if you're stepping away for 10-15 minutes, just out of courtesy, but it's not required and certainly not something we'd require you to track time for.\n\nFinally, criticizing management or process is how we improve, challenge ourselves and get better at the work that we do. No one risks their job by bringing up concerns in a constructive and respectful manner - in fact, all criticisms (good and bad) are welcome and encouraged. Again, I am sorry you feel this way and if you are willing to have an open conversation about your concerns, I would encourage you to utilize my open office calendar to discuss.\n\nAs an employee at WebDevStudios, you have several avenues available to you to communicate the good, bad, and ugly regarding your experience as a member of our team. We regularly conduct 'stay interviews' - because we would much rather do that than conduct 'exit interviews'. We have an anonymous employee suggestion box for ideas, concerns and thoughts about the how and why of what we do. Leadership, including our executive owners, conduct regular 1:1 meetings with all team members to do check-ins on employee satisfaction and feedback for performance. I would like to recommend you use the options available to you to work out your concerns, help us understand your perspective and bring to light any areas that we can iterate and improve on.\n\nI am genuine in saying that I appreciate your feedback, thank you.\n\n- Lisa Sabin-Wilson COO", "responseOriginal": null, "countNotHelpful": 0}]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Jun 2nd, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Engineer
|
|
|
Great culture, Fantastic people, Challenging work
|
|
The work will challenge you and engage you. Co-workers are smart, talented and very helpful. Company pays for continuing education, so I have leveled up my JS game by quite a lot, including training on Gutenberg.
Management and owners are approachable. It's a remote environment and having an 'open door' policy is hard, but one of the owners makes her calendar and zoom accessible to any and all for whatever you want to chat about.
The clients are pretty cool. WebDev works in the enterprise space, so we get the opportunity to meet and work with household brands, which is pretty cool.
With COVID, the owners have been very transparent and supportive with flex time, sick leave, etc.
|
Zero cons. I'm a lifer, if they continue to have me.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
2.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
Keep keeping on!
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Oct 17th, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
|
Surat
|
|
Team Leader
|
|
Good for learning WP Themes and Plugins
|
No cons at all. No cons at all
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Jul 2nd, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Lead Developer
|
|
|
It was a good run.
|
|
At WDS, promotions are swift. The amount of teamwork was great, everyone talked to each other.
Executives have an open-door policy and yearly retreats to meet the team was nice. WDS did a great job at separating Front-end from Back-end responsibilities as well.
Team is very friendly and willing to help, asking someone to rubberduck almost always gets a response.
Monthly knowledge shares - Quite frequently someone was willing to do a screen share to show off how to do something.
5 for the Future - They do dedicate one day a month to open source development. Developers are able to do what they want for that once single day from forum support, plugin development, core contributions, or even company-based tooling.
|
With fast promotions, the qualifications were almost non-existent, nor documented. "We should make X a lead" was thrown around a lot.
Flex-time is frowned upon - you do not have the ability to just 'step away' there's an expectation of working 9-5 and only 9-5.
With fast promotions, there's almost no documentation from upper management on what you 'can' do with your newfound powers. A roles/responsibilities doc is provided, but there's no official 'training' on being a lead.
No hardware ( little software ) allowances - They will not provide you with hardware to do your job, you must BYOC ( bring your own computer ) - preferably a Mac since that comprised 90% of the company. Software allowances are possible within reason, but aren't documented.
Multiple roles per discipline - Sr. devs were expected to do Lead dev jobs, despite leads being available. Leads were expected to do much, much more...
Career cap - each year brought new changes to team structures, no real advancement/learning opportunities once you become a lead.
Little to no time for coding as a lead and expectations of 'picking up the slack' despite bringing up staffing concerns.
Open-door policy can bite you - there's a fine line between being an honest person, and keeping your job.
5 for the Future often cancelled in the wake of client work - may have changed as time has passed.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
7.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
Provide a training/prep curriculum to prospective leads to give them the chance to shine, don't drop someone in a lead position just because you need to show you have a lead developer.
Document EVERYTHING - for every division from FED, to BED, to Systems ... everything should be documented.
Lessen the load on lead developers, allow them to lead their team. A lead is not a general manager, you can't have a Lead developer playing the role of PM, Lead, Systems Admin, Developer, and QA at the same time.
Stop saying yes to every client, big or small. Scope creep is real and putting the stress on the teams in the name of money isn't good for anyone in the long run.
Get the team structure sorted out and provide a better way to promote/recognize leaders. You don't have to promote everyone just to have a lead or senior dev, recognition is sufficient in most cases. If the structure doesn't change I wouldn't expect more than a 3yr tenancy.
Having an open door policy facilitates trust, cutting your losses because people are looking elsewhere is immoral. The executives should be more open with the team as a whole about concerns, it means the world to a small team to be involved with upper management, to feel included.
Stick to your promises, no matter the consequences. When the dev teams are promised dedicated time to do something, stick to your guns, explain to the clients what is going on, why, and how it's going to make it better for them and your teams. 5 for the Future is one of those things, the devs need time to give back to the open-source community.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Jun 30th, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Project Manager
|
Philadelphia, PA
|
|
Amazing people
|
|
The company is a like a family who is willing to teach you anything you don't know.
|
It's remote -- which was a plus for me, but some may find it hard to keep their motivation working from home!
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Mar 22nd, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
|
|
|
Love the culture!!
|
|
Great company to work for! I have been an employee here for a few years now and truly believe in the services we provide to our clients. We have a talented team, who are dedicated to WordPress, growth and team work.
|
A growing company has some growing pains. Processes change often when necessary, so you must be willing to adhere to change easily. But recent process improvements have increased efficiency in my day to day.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
Continue to grow, this company is awesome!
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
May 7th, 2017 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Senior Back-end Developer
|
|
|
It was fine.
|
|
Smart, caring folks who were doing their best.
Work from home meant extensive travel possibilities.
Exciting projects in the WordPress space.
20% open source policy
|
Very messy development practices.
Seemingly unfamiliar with modern software development techniques (it's more than just using git)
Good at projecting themselves as elite, but don't seem to know their own company or strengths.
Didn't seem to adapt or even understand when they were out of their abilities. Treated every project the same.
Terrible communication habits.
Mixed and shifting organization structure.
Rapid churn; including partners and key developer leadership.
Must provide your own tech (laptop, software, all of it).
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
6.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|
|
private:webdevstudios
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1485518
|
Dec 21st, 2016 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WebDevStudios
|
Front End Developer
|
|
|
Great place to work, pay is below industry standard
|
|
Lots of extremely smart folks and a really good work atmosphere. Everyone from the executive level to Jr. Developers are a pleasure to work with.
|
The only downside is the pay is often well below industry standard.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
|
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
|
1485518
|
Open
|
If you value keeping top talent, consider more frequent raises based on increased performance or just higher % raises.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
May 11th, 2021 06:59PM
|
WebDevStudios
|
Technology
|
Software & Computer Services
|