Aiven reviews

3.5

62% would recommend to a friend

(178 total reviews)

Oskari Saarenmaa

64% approve of CEO

57% positive business outlook

Aiven has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 178 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Aiven employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

178 reviews
2.0
Oct 28, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation is pretty good here

Cons

Aiven is a very strange company. There is tons of potential and there are some really great people but many of the engineering practices are fundamentally flawed. I believe this comes from the top of the company but it is also a problem with the software engineering managers. Software engineers are measured by the number of lines of code, number of commits and their position in the company's top committers. This is a focus of the probationary period but it also applies to employees that have been there for a long time. The drive towards these metrics creates the wrong incentives by adding bloat and reducing team work. Any work that was done to design or plan features was not considered in the metrics. I had countless meetings with my manager about the task I was working on and how it probably wouldn’t produce enough code for the metrics. This often led to being moved to another task (regardless of the importance to the business). Sometimes when I couldn’t find a task that produced enough code it was suggested that I look for work in the backlog for another team. This is completely backwards and proves that the metrics are not measuring the job you are there to do. It doesn’t measure the team’s tasks or output. It measures something different and to succeed you need to game the system. It is to your personal advantage to block your colleagues' code and bloat your own changes.

avatar
Aiven Response
3y
Hello, Thank you for the feedback, we appreciate your honesty and we will improve. We value outcome over output, aim for the least amount of code for the biggest results and well tested, high quality, secure code. But apparently in this case we haven’t been able to provide the right support and expectations. Thanks for mentioning the compensation as competitive and for your kind words about your co-workers. Best, Aiven Team
1.0
Aug 26, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Company crab week - flew entire company out to Portugal for a week and rented a lavish resort. Great tech given to employees - new MacBook Air, latest iPhone, newest Airpods. Fully Remote work environment.

Cons

Culture has went into the toilet after mass layoffs in January 2023. Tons of micromanagement. Promoting then demoting months later only to hire external candidates to fill roles. People announcing their departure every week. Morale is at an all-time low. Management shifts directions every month or so. Not ready for Enterprise customers.

1.0
Jul 13, 2023

Product has potential but culture is toxic

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary, good benefits, ability to work remotely

Cons

Aiven fosters a toxic culture of competition for airtime, blaming, and dishonesty. Lack of Transparency and zero openness: - Promotions are conducted behind closed doors, and the hiring process, especially for higher levels, is shrouded in secrecy. - Promotions are based on popularity rather than merit. - People feel unsafe to express their opinions freely. Just look at how quiet the AMA channel usually is when any sensitive matters are being discussed. Incompetent execs and managers: - Fuzzy vision with no clear direction or action plan to tackle it. - Some managers demonstrate incompetence but are retained, while lower-level employees are the first to be targeted for layoffs. - While managers claim to encourage employees to take risks, they already have a predetermined agenda and are unwilling to consider alternative answers or approaches. Superficial Problem-Solving: - In response to employee dissatisfaction expressed through engagement surveys, executives provided a plan that seemed more for show than addressing the real issues. - Poor career progression remain unaddressed.

Viewing 31 - 33 of 178 Reviews

Glassdoor has 198 Aiven reviews submitted anonymously by Aiven employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Aiven is right for you.