Most of what you need to know the CEO wrote himself in an article published on Quillette entitled “Glassdoor is Broken” (google it). It’s a long read but if you work at Amida you will receive similar manifestos privately via email on a regular, probably monthly basis, so if you want to work there I hope you enjoyed it. A word to the wise though, the private ones may be even less coherent than that one (if that’s even possible). They usually center around the common idea that millennials are incompetent and whiny smartphone addicts who just want attention through claiming victimhood (although Glassdoor is anonymous so I don’t know what we youngsters are going after here). Sometimes they’re about how *women* are whiny smartphone addicts who don’t understand the struggle of being the CEO (how could they ever get it?) and a man in today’s world. See, an exciting workplace! What variety! Best job ever!
The so-called motto of the company – “do work that matters with people you care about” is in fundamental contradiction with Mr. Levin’s statement in the above-mentioned article. See the salient part quoted below.
“The core principle and foundational purpose of the company is to provide employment and growth opportunities for those—especially in Washington DC, and especially for women (notoriously under-represented in tech)—who may not have otherwise considered or chosen a career path with a venture-backed high-tech company.”
Yes, you read that correctly. The purpose of this company is not bound to any idea of making the world a better place through technology, of supporting today’s leaders in making wise choices, nothing like this. No, the purpose of this company is to give YOU a job. Especially if you’re a high potential woman, god knows you’re not talented or smart enough to find a job where you have tasks outside of writing proposals and adjusting slides to fit the CEO’s liking. If that’s your idea of doing work that matters then jump right in! But be prepared to be aggressively talked down to, degraded, and contacted at all hours of the day. Such behavior, to the CEO’s credit, is typically gender agnostic but skews towards women who don’t yet know how to stand up for themselves.
I think the CEO really does think he is *saving* all those poor high-potential minorities. Unfortunately good intentions are not enough. There needs to be at least some attempt at genuine empathy and tangible changes that show the employees that they have the power to help shape the culture they work in. People have voiced their concerns. They are appeased with methods designed to make them feel like they can have an impact while everything remains the same. That is because there is no recognition from the CEO that anything is wrong, no recognition that he might need to change his mindset and his behavior. But instead, he puts his insecurities back on his employees, asks for reassurance, then continues to think (and publicly write) about how his employees are just naive social justice warriors trying to get recognition from their woke friends.
If the work were meaningful, maybe you could even put up with this toxic and far too emotional environment. Unfortunately, the work is menial at all levels of the organization and even in technical roles, your primary activity will be trying to stay sane as everyone around you (usually quite wonderful people) are harassed and broken down.
