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Talented Developers, Terrible Leadership - Anonymous employee TinyCo Employee Review

2.0
May 15, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Highly skilled developers. The art, engineering, design, QA and community teams are all extremely talented and hard-working. The leads for each of these departments are fittingly talented and dedicated, too. Standard game industry perks apply: there are catered dinners, a well-stocked break room, and a furnished games room. Quarterly outings are organized for each department. Frequent happy hours and free booze, if that's your thing. I will say that the culture at TinyCo is one of the most friendly and welcoming I have ever worked with. Specifically, bigotry is not tolerated among the lower-level employees. This company is a safe-space for most minority groups as consequence. There are no sexist or homophobic "brogrammers" here. If you want to work in an environment with friendly, talented peers whom you can learn from, TinyCo may be a good fit for you.

Cons

Poor and inconsistent leadership. The CEO changes his mind on a dime. Socially, he is a very likable guy, but as a leader he falls short. He micro-manages. He is not good at long-term planning. Instead of taking the opinions of employees under consideration when he disagrees with them, he will refuse to listen and invent his own reasons for that disparity. People who fall out of his favor are swiftly deposed. The Product Management team has also historically been so-so. Developers are underpaid. Raises are infrequent and pitifully small (typically 2% per year), so if you consider working here, negotiate a higher-than-average starting salary. Employees are often assigned new job titles and responsibilities without additional compensation. Company has a history of glorifying long hours, with little thought to work/life balance. The "peer bonus" system, which was initially created to reward outstanding work, has been gradually tailored to reward only those who stay late or do work outside of their own job. This results in rewarding understaffing, too. Also consider including required tools (min-spec machine, licensed software, Cintiq if you're an artist, etc.) in your initial contract, because this company is ridiculously stingy. Management has a history of promising necessary tools to their team without delivering. Same if you have need for ergonomic furniture, such as a comfortable chair or standing desk. I have seen employees with back injuries be denied standing desks unless they press the point, even if they have a doctor's note for one.

Explore other reviews about TinyCo

5.0
Nov 11, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There’s catered lunch a few days a week and catered dinner. Work life balance is mostly good other than understandably right before a big game release. Best coworkers you will ever work with!

Cons

401k marching is non existent. No bonuses or equity or any other structure exists to make me feel like I have a stake in company success.

5.0
Sep 30, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- I believe that TinyCo doesn't hire just experienced people, or "good" people, or "bad" people, I think they try to hire the right people to make F2P mobile games, and sometimes experience doesn't mean results, I like that the culture is results driven. - I've learned a ton, maybe I'd even say a crap load. - I feel like I matter here, and that people want me to actually give me opinions and thoughts directly and its not encumbered by red tape or dumb managers - The people are amazing here. Everyone is positive, bright, helpful and there are almost no politics. People have fun and like to spend time with one another and no one is left out. - Great pipeline of game projects that we are very excited about.

Cons

- I wish there was more of a management structure and that the company was organized in general, it's a bit of a mess and sometimes the lack of structure creates craziness. I guess its better that there isn't too much management like other companies, but more would help. - Projects are a bit unstructured as well, but I think they are getting much better. I think if we keep having hits and investing in teams and management the company could get there. - Management is a bit slow to act... Decisions feel like they take a lifetime to be made and trickle down even for simple things. - The office is kind of craptastic, but its not bad, just not... pretty.

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