Applied Systems reviews

Starting pay is extremely low for a tech company, even considering the area. If you take such a low salary, you will find it difficult to move on and command the salary you should receive in the future. That would be fine, if it were not for the pathetic raises also. My annual raises usually BARELY beat cost of living. And one year, they even blamed the economy and had a "salary freeze". I am sure that did not also apply to upper management. I graduated college while still working for them, and asked for a raise. The bureaucracy at Applied is so bad, this process was like pulling teeth. In the end, I did not get at all close to what I deserved, considering what I put into the company. Ultimately, I had to jump ship to another company because I could see that staying at Applied would get me nowhere in my career, salary-wise. Bonuses were a joke too. $500 or $1000 was typical. Management is constantly changing. I had probably 4 different managers in the 5 years I was there. This is partly due to high turnover, partly due to new ownership. Management only cares about the bottom line (the company is owned by a venture capital firm -- their whole purpose is to maximize profits). I had to constantly track my time spent, in 15 minute intervals. I cannot complain enough about how much of an annoyance this is. It impedes and interrupts actual work, and is overall a big waste of time. The cubicles are cramped. Most of them (for developers) are in the basement and windowless. I was not allowed the flexibility to work from home. I believe this has changed since I left though, at least for some employees, 1 day per week. The 401k plan had poor fund options (high expense ratios). Medical plan was not fully paid for by the company. Vacation time was only 2 weeks. You had to put in 5 years to get 3 weeks. But despite all of those complaints, I would have stayed if it were not for the laughably low pay and raises. Ultimately, we all work to earn a paycheck that fairly compensates me for my skills and abilities. That was never going to happen at Applied.

Where to begin. Low pay for the industry, don't expect to make a killing here unless you still live with your parents and have no bills. Insurance package is weak and expensive I think it's just over Obamacare minimum requirements. Raises are a complete joke, $500 a year, let that sink in less than $10 a week they consider a raise. They will tell you that they don't have the money to give out a better raise then weeks later buy a new company, or remodel some part of the building or hire one of the CEOs buddies for a newly created position making 6 figures. No bonuses of any kind unless you are management or sales. You will only receive negative feedback from your superiors. The dept. that handles almost all of the calls that come in are the lowest paid of all departments. The support department has the highest turnover rate of any other department here. In one year it is not unusual for the entire dept to "flip". There is no future unless you kiss up to the right people. Management only follows their rules and guidelines when it suits them to do so. Most of the supervisors have no idea how the program even works and have not even worked on the program or took a call in 10 years, the most recent supervisor has less than a year on the phones working on the software. Management plays favorites and will give those people special opportunities not given to people who deserve it.  People who dont deserve promotions are given it over tenured employees with more qualifications.  Supervisors basically have no job requirements and aren't required to follow their schedule. Some supervisors focus all their efforts into food parties rather than work, and have lower techs do their jobs for them. Management has no reality of what it actually going on underneath them, most of their focus goes into customer retention instead of fixing why customers leave us they tell employees to ask why they hate us every 90 days.