Pros
As the title implies, I thought the Best Company Ever review was a joke. There were some things that I did enjoy about Karmak but I would never go so far as to say the best company ever and I honestly don't think anyone who currently works there would even say that either. I'm guessing whoever thought that has had some terrible jobs at fast food joints and "rollback" supercenters.-------However, I did forge some friendships here that I still maintain, and for that, I am grateful. ----------Travel--------If you're willing to travel, you will likely get the opportunity (though you will get very little to no say on when/where/how you arrive at your destination). This means that if the dealership is in a shady location, you're going to a shady location. If a dealership is within an 8 hour drive, you'll likely be driving, if the dealership wants to go live on the product on a holiday weekend, you will likely be working--whether it's checking their data, being on site, helping field questions and support those that are on site, etc... ----------Benefits---------Upon your start date you automatically get 5 personal days. However, depending upon the department you work in, you'll either not really ever get a chance to take them or have to schedule them. Schedule them you ask. Yep, schedule a personal day. Don't be surprised if you're asked what you're going to do on your personal day either. -----------Additional Benefits---------------Some departments will cover approx. $30 of your phone bill a month if you fill out the expense report. However, if you agree to having you phone bill covered you also basically agree to accepting phone calls, responding to texts and emails at any given point of the day. Don't be surprised if you still get these when you're on DTO.
Cons
There are things that I will miss about working at Karmak but that will not include: ------------Work/life balance-------------There are departments and positions that allow for a great work/life balance, but not many of them. --------Pay-----------If you've read the other reviews, this should come as no surprise to you. You won't get rich working here, unless you can make your way up to director or higher, but that's a when and if. And you'd really need to define rich. By all conventional measures of being rich, a salary here won't get you rich. -----------------------Having to say, it might be a bug.------------------------- The quality of the product can be questionable. Not being sure if the feature was just developed in a questionable way or it's a bug is common. ------------------Release notes-------------------- on how a new feature is supposed to work may or may not come out. Also releasing software without thorough testing is common. -----------------Education------------------Can be a pro/con depending upon how you look at it. Don't have a college education? Want a job? Great, you can apply here and not be weeded out in the hiring process because you lack one. Have a college education and think it will help you secure a higher salary? Sorry. Won't happen. --------------Skills/Talent-----------Because it is employee owned, seems like people get shuffled around to open positions not because of their talent or knowledge in that position, but because it's open. It can be a pro for some employees but I feel it's a con to the consumer of the product. Managers without a management/leadership background or management degree. Instructional design without instructional designers or those trained in that area. -----------------Morale-------------Employee morale was quite low. You can only squeeze so much out of your employees before they just feel downtrodden. --------------Questionable Office Relationships----------------I don't feel I need to touch upon it because pretty much every other review already has---There's some questionable behavior in terms of personal life/affairs/etc. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, give it a week and you'll be filled in. --------------Also, if you're still with me on this, I'd just like to apologize for the abysmal formatting that is forced on the reviewer. It's probably terribly hard to read without paragraph spacing being taken into consideration.-----------Bottom line, yeah, it's a job. So, if you're in a tight spot and looking for anything, it works. It can also be slightly better paying than a retail job but that's only in salary, not hourly.
