Alchemer Software Developer reviews

Massive disconnect between senior management flowing downwards in terms of culture and product goals. Turnover has gotten to the point where the company does no longer announce who is leaving.

This company has two problems, which doesn't sound so bad until you realize what they are. Problem 1: Technology For a technology company, they sure put all of the positive emphasis on Sales and Marketing. Somehow the C-level executives and the company owners forgot the thing they are selling is software. Just about everything in the SAAS environment is out of date/out of warranty/no longer supported. Even the latest PHP upgrade is for PHP 7 which reaches EOL this year. This will continue until the company is sold, loses all the customers or by some miracle, all managers in technology up to executive level are replaced by someone with experience and knowledge about how technology actually works. This was once a fine product. Problem 2: Management The CEO is more hands on technology than the CTO. CEO worked for Accenture so they fancy themselves to be technical gurus. Either way, none of the C-level types have a clue about how to run a technology company. Especially a SAAS company. Maybe their management philosophy would have been somewhat useful back in the day where stores sold software inside of a box. The executives do not trust you if you are not a manager. So naturally they place all of their trust in other managers who have no technology experience other than VMS and other outdated systems. Sure, some of them have a few online certifications but that kind of knowledge only skims the first few atoms of the surface. Everything else requires actual experience and education. The CTO has been hands off. She is busy pinky promising things she can't deliver. She will try to make you think she understands technology as well but as soon as you say "CIDR" or "Polymorphism" her eyes glaze over and ends the meeting. Management does not care about employee retention. This is proven by them firing anyone who speaks the truth about how broken the environment really is. I have seen a number of reviews on this site that say how great this company is. These are most likely fake reviews. The last bastion of a fraudulent company is one that tells you how great their "culture" is. Culture is not something you mandate in a company handbook. It is something that grows organically over time with the right people doing work they enjoy. If this company really had that great culture (it did many years ago) ask yourself this question...Why are so many employees leaving? And they are not just leaving but they are leaving without having another job. They are so desperate to get out of this miasmic work environment they have to go, sometimes months without a paycheck. Leaving was the only way to retain sanity. It probably sounds like I have an axe to grind but I really do not. I hope this is taken as a cautionary example for anyone who is thinking about applying for a technology job at Alchemer. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. If you are passionate about technology, this place will just make you hate technology and want to become a garbage man.