Pros
Interesting product from a technical standpoint. Some challenges here or there, but overall nothing too complicated. There are a handful of extremely talented people here that are great to work with and are passionate about a well-disciplined engineering approach to solving technical challenges. The rest.....not so much...
Cons
90% if the company is comprised of incompetent employees who do nothing more than hinder overall progress. People with little to no qualifications are continuously promoted, while those that do excellent work and have been dedicated employees for years are left in their original positions with minimal compensation increases and are often the ones who clean up the mess created by the incompetent. Upper management has failed "leaders" in every department who are more focused on hitting fictional dates than the integrity of the product in order to maintain their bonuses come years' end. Lying, cheating and stealing others work and passing it off as their own is common practice here at Symbotic. Annual reviews are laughable at best, with no consistency in the rating system and no explanations for ratings given. Bonuses and raises are extremely poor, especially if you are a hard worker (it seems that everyone gets an equal raise/bonus regardless of work performed...). HR is more concerned about hosting company outings and ice-cream parties than building a well-disciplined team of engineers and employees. This is evident by their responses to GlassDoor reviews where they never address problem areas but instead focus on the social aspects only. A serious company would value their employees by acknowledging their hard work, dedication and sacrifices and perhaps reward them with compensation bonuses rather than a few slices of pepperoni pizza and some chocolate chip ice cream. A quick lap around the office will show that most employees put their personal agenda before the company. Employees watching DVD movies, browsing FaceBook, playing video games, reading the news, x-mas shopping...all in plain view is an absolute embarrassment and disrespectful to the minority who are passionate about their job and their performance. The fact that HR and management continue to let this happen is just downright appalling. The CEO is totally out of touch with the product that he tries so hard to promote and the company that he "leads". He is merely a marionette whose strings are being pulled by the parent company's owner. Leadership is nowhere in his list of attributes. Company meetings continuously regurgitate the same info and "objectives" yet no progress is ever made nor is there a defined method or path to achieving success. Dates and deadlines are plucked from the air, with little thought to the impact that these milestones mean from both a high-level and a departmental view. There is no accountability, especially cross-functionally, and the result is often many things fall through the cracks and someone is always cleaning up the "mess". No one is reprimanded nor is anyone praised for picking up the pieces. Training and growth opportunities are non-existent here. Getting approval to attend a seminar or conference is like pulling teeth. In an industry that thrives on new technology, your employees should be allowed to attend seminars, training, etc. in order to continuously build skills and utilize these skills to better the product and continuously raise the bar for innovation. Instead, many of us are behind the curve in technology advancements. My advice to potential new-hires...don't be lured in by pizza and ice cream; look deeper into management practices and team dynamics before even remotely considering Symbotic.
