It's hard to know where to start with this nearly 3 year experience. Now with some time and distance, the best way to start is to say that I had a sticky note on my computer that said, "Shut Up, They don't care what you have to say. The culture IS toxic positivity."
Your day to day experience at this company is 100% based on your management. If you have a great manager you can go months without seeing the worst of the company. If on the other hand you have someone who is not good your life will be filled with micromanagement, passive aggressive feedback and microaggressions. Even when you have a great and caring manager like I did, they can only do so much and ultimately if you advocate for yourself too much or have a good sense of foresight/constructive criticism you will feel repercussions. You cannot speak your mind openly here.
This company does NOT want to be fully remote. If they could they would force everyone back into the office at the drop of a hat. When I started pre-pandemic we were told "remote isn't possible at AppFolio". Of course in March 2020 we successfully transitioned in a day, but thats beside the point. So if you see a job posting that says "remote" take that with a grain of salt for now as up until just a few months ago (before Delta) they were trying to persuade everyone to come back to the office with "everything is great in-office" propaganda in every meeting. Once the pandemic is over I suspect they will have hired enough remote employees (outside of office locations) they will have to let them remain that way - but be aware.
Now onto career and compensation. When I started I was told that it was typical for someone in my role to move on either within the company or to another job in about 2 years. This was normal. I was also told that moving positions (associate, specialist, senior, etc...) was based on a timeline and hitting established metrics. In my case I started as a Specialist at what I considered a solid pay rate (50k) but low for my experience. I was told that I should be senior by my 2 year mark. Well what do you know. The goalposts were moved multiple times over. I was given markers of what I needed to do and I would do those things in just a few months, give proof and then once again the metrics changed. Also they loved to give qualitative feedback. Stuff that had no metrics to measure performance. Stuff to keep you stuck because there is no easy way to prove success. This happened 3 times. I ended up giving up and finding a much better job instead. Pro tip: If I were hired today I would check to make sure they are offering better pay rates than those hired a few years ago (I did notice that the pay ranges for roles went down in the time I worked there to a lower starting salary rate).
If you’re in a customer facing role like I was expect to be devalued, overworked, encouraged to work unpaid overtime (not explicitly) and probably offered a lower pay rate than what you can find elsewhere (especially with the growth of remote work - go out of state if needed). I also started with the false impression that I could grow a career here and be respected for the work I do. It turns out AppFolio would prefer for you to show up and shut up. To burn through low paid new college grads (the young/desperate/naieve) rather then help move current employees up in the company (whether through raises or promotions or moves to different departments). Don’t expect a raise of more than 5% (I got 3% this past year which is less than inflation). They don’t do cost of living increases either, despite having their main office in an incredibly HCOL area.
Sorry for the long winded review. I can give much more feedback but I will stop here. All I can say is that I did not realize how bad it was until I started working at a company where I can truly be myself without fear of retribution, speak my mind, have boundaries, have my life circumstances considered (we’re not drones - we’re human) and be respected by my team AND clients. It’s a wonderful thing.
Side note: Take the numerous good reviews on this platform with a grain of salt. At least once per year (before the “best companies to work for” awards happen) they encourage all employees to fill out a Glassdoor review in order to “attract more good people”. I personally never filled it out. It felt dishonest. But I know many others who just quickly gave it 5 stars with no feedback - especially if they are new.
