Sweetwater reviews

4.2

82% would recommend to a friend

(542 total reviews)
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Mike Clem

90% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

Sweetwater has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 542 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Sweetwater employee rating is 24% above average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

542 reviews
5.0
Oct 7, 2022

You will not find a better company to work for

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

• Amazing people at all levels within the company • Constant opportunies for personal and professional growth • Great benefits, perks, and amenities • Competitive compensation The folks that work at this company are the best you will ever have the opportunity to work with. I promise, if you ask anyone at Sweetwater what the best part is, they will say the people. Everyone here is on another level of smarts, passion, and creativity. There is also an unbelievable amount of scrappiness and grit amongst the people that work here that is not often seen at companies of this size. It is a pleasure to be surrounded by so many great people. Since starting here I have personally had the opportunity to hold a variety of different positions, some of which did not exist when I started. This is a really great showcase of the growth opportunity for those that are willing to work for it. In the same vein, there are a number of positions that I applied for that I did not get. While disappointing at the time, looking back it is really clear that those above me saw a different path for me, and they were right. The management team here truly gets to know who you are and helps you get to where you need to be, which turns out to be where you really wanted to be. The total compensation is fantastic overall. Between the pay, insurance options, 401k (great match and options to choose from), amenities available (In house Doctor, arcade, diner, coffee shop, full service concierge), and local discounts you could not ask for more.

Cons

Anything mentioned here would just be nit-picking...

5.0
Oct 7, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I've worked in several other IT jobs and they were all terrible. I've loved my job at Sweetwater since I started here. So the contrast between jobs I hated and a job I love has been night and day. I hope I work here until I retire. The managers are kind and helped me do my job better. They are leaders, not bosses. They are highly open to innovation and ideas. So when I made a suggestion or had an idea I wanted to try, the answer was usually "yes". My current boss has been a great mentor to me as this is my first managerial job. He's helped me learn and grow as a manager and has the knowledge and experience to back it up. The overall culture at sweetwater is excellent too. There's a culture of excellence with an understanding of humanity too. We change and grow really fast here, but we also understand that people are humans and wont be perfect. In fact, there's a plaque in my director's office that says "I learned an expensive lesson at Sweetwater". It's for when we in IT cause a BIG problem that affects the whole company. All the people who's names are up there have not been fired. We do post-mortums after each incident to see how we can learn from it and prevent it in the future. Team culture is really good. I love my team and they make things so much better. Everyone is helpful on my team and striving towards excellence. We ask each other a lot of questions and collaborate on tons of work. There's not a single person on my team that I'd say is dead weight or drags the team down. Upper management also seems to be pretty cool. I've worked closely with most of the C-level execs including the CEO. They all are really nice and patient. They don't treat IT like their servants and try to do alot of stuff on their own. We do weekly 1on1s with our manager. It's a chance to have their ear and talk about whatever is on our minds. I really value this meeting and enjoy the relationship it helps me build with my manager. It really helps to build trust and allows me a chance to discuss all the things that are important to me. Finally, my boss helps fight against me working past my 40 hours. I'm salaried so I don't get overtime. He makes sure I don't over extend and believes that if I have to spend more than 40 hours a week to complete my work, we should hire a second person. They're also really flexible when I have things like Dr appointments, car repairs, etc. They say as long as I make up the time, it's fine. I know not every department is able to be like that, but it's really nice in IT. That's really encouraging and helps me protect my work/life balance.

Cons

The pace of change can be daunting at times. For example: in IT just this year, we've implemented a new ticket system, a new phone system, a new DNS/DHCP system, cut the whole company over to M365 and we're just starting Q4. But all that change is because we're growing so fast and our systems need to scale with us. A good team dynamic and attentive managers helps us get through the incredible pace of change. Also, communication can be difficult. With all these changes happening so quickly, many changes occur without our knowledge and we have to play catchup. I'm on the helpdesk and we often have to support a new solution that we just learned about the same day. That can be frustrating, but we've learned to roll with it. The troubleshooting method is our Bible and helps us navigate brand new systems with expertise. As a manager, communication is always a tricky thing and we're working to get better at that.

2.0
Oct 6, 2022

Run, run, run, run far far away

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They provide gear discounts (because they know that you won't be able to afford them) Cool people Occasional sunlight

Cons

Sweetwater cares very little about the employee. With inflation being at an all time high, sweetwaters response was non-existent. This multi-billion dollar company paid some of the lowest wages and expected the highest amount of effort. Goodluck with paying for any emergencies that may spring up. Remember to save up all your PDO and never take a day off no matter how bad you need it. You need to have a cushion for when the clinic forces you to stay home for 6 months to take care of a 2 day flu. You will wear many hats but don't you dare ask for a raise to compensate your increased responsibility, that would rock the boat. You are routinely expected to work beyond your hours on-site. In order to make your survivable wage, you must study for many hours outside of work. Forget about having a social life/friends/family. All you need is sweetwater! Sweetwater is love, sweetwater is life. All hail sweetwater.

Viewing 298 - 300 of 542 Reviews

Glassdoor has 572 Sweetwater reviews submitted anonymously by Sweetwater employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sweetwater is right for you.