Appian reviews

3.6

60% would recommend to a friend

(788 total reviews)
avatar

Matt Calkins

54% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Appian has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 788 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Appian employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

788 reviews
1.0
Aug 18, 2016

Cult Culture Combustion

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good people - Great potential

Cons

- Fosters a cult-like environment by hiring young kids straight out of college who are in need of a job, lying to them about company prospects, and their potential to "enact" change. - Not a meritocracy. The best idea doesn't win. The loudest voice in the room does. - If you're a woman, definitely stay away. This company touts a "Women's Leadership Program", but it's just for marketing. Many of women in leadership positions are demoted to "housekeeping" roles and ignored when they raise potential issues. In fact, Appian has systematically fired high-performing women or driven them away to greener pastures. - No longer cares about the people at the company or their clients. Business values shift each quarter and company is driven by potential profits and ROI. - Severe salary compression issues. Management entices young college graduates at a higher rate (100,000+), but leaves more tenured employees at a lower rate to account for it. - Consultant leg of the company works overtime to fund Engineering's "pet" projects - Engineers are asked to develop on a proprietary programming language, thus hurting their marketability if/when they want to switch positions. - CEO, Founders, and upper management have lost touch with their talent and client base, as a result they are hemorrhaging old business and new revenue sources. - No semblance of work/life balance. They want to be a google, but they don't foster the right creative environment for brilliant minds. You will be micromanaged and expected to put in more and more hours without additional support. - High turnover in Professional Services/Consultant branch of the company at all levels and high turnover of senior staff in Engineering speaks volumes about how Appian mismanages talent.

avatar
Appian Response
9y
Thank you for your positive comments approving of our CEO, our good people and great potential. I do need to correct a few misstatements. We don’t trick people into working long hours with piles of food, office perks and mandatory fun. Everything about Appian – including our headquarters surrounded by restaurants and entertainment you can walk to – is designed for openness. We want you to enrich our culture with your interests and relationships outside Appian. That’s our strength. We should hire more recent college graduates, not less. Most people who join Appian stay five years or more, turnover remains low, so the real culture threat is forgetting what made this company great – being open to new ideas, new energy, and valuing potential and personality over past experience in hiring decisions. We don’t want to be Google or anybody else. We are happy being Appian. The business is quite strong and growing quickly and Appian customer satisfaction is the highest in our market segment. Don’t take my word for it -- just check the independent ratings from Gartner Research published last week. Every idea is heard and considered, but good strategy dictates making hard choices about which ideas can be executed well. If you have worked with Appian’s CEO, you would know Matt’s voice is never raised to drown out other’s opinions. Appian's Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) is a self-organized group led by high-performing women that have help us build and sustain a meritocratic culture at Appian that empowers, not silences diverse viewpoints. WLP helps Appian network with leading lights outside our company to measure and improve ourselves. As for Appian Engineers, most develop with Facebook React.js and Java – great tools and in very high demand. I believe you are referring to Appian’s use of Kx. Kx is an innovative NoSQL technology used for Big Data and high-performance analytics that is also used by some of the biggest financial services organizations in the world. In case you had not heard, experience working with a Big Data platform like Kx is an extremely valuable and marketable skillset. Right now, only a few engineers get to work with Kx inside Appian. For candidates considering a career with us, please feel free to bring up any points raised in this post with your interviewers. We look forward to showing you the real Appian. -Michael, Co-founder & CTO, Appian
5.0
Jul 20, 2016

Great place to work!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Appian has a strong, positive culture - open communication is encouraged, my team is very supportive, and management treats employees very well. Also, It is extremely motivating to work for a company that rewards success with opportunity. There are a lot of ways you can take your career at Appian if you do well. The people here are intelligent, hard-working, and a lot of fun to be around. Work-life balance is perfect. We are in the heart of Reston Town Center, which is a great place to walk around at lunch and has many different restaurants and shops.

Cons

To be honest, I can't think of any downsides to Appian at this point. It is definitely a great time to work for this company. No complaints!

5.0
Jul 20, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I've enjoyed my time here at Appian because of the corporate culture, and the drive for growth. Everyone here has been very helpful to make sure that each employee is meeting their goals.

Cons

I have not seen any real negatives thus far. The company is in high growth mode and is experiencing some growing pains, but every company goes through that. It's worth it for what is on the other side.

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Glassdoor has 863 Appian reviews submitted anonymously by Appian employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Appian is right for you.