All the negatives of the Amazon culture with few positives - Senior Manager of Engineering Smartsheet Employee Review

1.0
Feb 15, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Co-workers were a mixed bag - some who were genuinely interested in working collaboratively and delivering value for our customers. Others who were abrasive personalities or played games.

Cons

The company doubled in size since the IPO and a change in top level leadership (CTO on down) brought all the negatives of the Amazon culture (abrasiveness, negativity, pressure, unrealistic expectations, unhealthy internal competition, insensitive management, criticism over constructive feedback, no work/life balance). Lots of people cashing out after options matured. Read the gory details on teamblind.com. The eng leadership attitude is that you should always be hiring (since they expect plenty of turnover).

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Smartsheet Response
5y
While our rapid growth has required us to evolve, our values and operating principles remain central to our culture of support and innovation. We’re a company that thrives on competitive spirit and teamwork, while fostering employee well-being. The healthy competition that is at the heart of our identity is underscored by a genuine desire to see each other succeed and then celebrate that success together. Although the changes to our engineering org have introduced new mechanisms — yes, development of new muscles can lead to aches at times — our results and employee feedback show the positive impact of the modernized organization model. I welcome all employees to share their constructive feedback (whether it be directly or via one of our anonymous mechanisms), as that is how we continue to grow and evolve. I’m available to any employee who would like to talk. —Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet

Explore other reviews about Smartsheet

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great collaborative environment and competitive

Cons

Easily overwhelmed with phone calls, chats, and emails.

1.0
May 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Supportive of AI tooling. I had a great manager. I heard the severance packages are great, but I left of my own volition, so I don’t have personal experience.

Cons

Complete lack of direction or management at the mid to high levels of the company in product and engineering (most everyone left or was pushed out by cronyism from the private equity acquisition). No more equity offered to employees. No opportunities for promotion. They’ve shipped or are shipping most of the core products (including the core “sheet” aka Grid app) to India and have laid off tons of employees (somewhere between 12% and 15% of the company). Upper management did the thing where they had the US developers interview tons of people out of India, and then about half a year later laid off tons US developers, including several of the people that did the interviews. Upper management said that the India teams would be working on other projects, but clearly that was a lie. They laid off people without consulting their managers, or their manager’s managers, and without knowing what team they actually worked on or what they did. So entire teams were laid off unbeknownst to them. Very quick and poor handoffs to India, if any. You will likely be working on multiple teams at once, or moved to multiple teams during your time there in short periods of time. On-call can be a nightmare. There is no culture of any kind. Basically do not work here, whether you’re out of the US, India, or Bulgaria (the main countries for developers).

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Smartsheet Response
1w
Thank you for your honesty. While we’re glad that you had a great team and the tools you needed, it’s incredibly tough to hear that other aspects of your experience were less than great. To your point about equity, we’d like to clarify that we do offer a limited equity pool with specific eligibility. That said, navigating transition is already tough, and adding in other aspects like global shifts and new leadership can make it feel even harder. We know the dust hasn’t completely settled, and we understand that we have a lot of work to do to repair employee trust and morale. We’ve set off on that journey, and we appreciate all of this feedback along the way. Thank you, and we wish you all the best in your next chapter.
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