May 17, 2016
Cambly was a disappointment
Anonymous employee
Cambly reviews
3.2
63% would recommend to a friend
Sameer Shariff
50% approve of CEO
48% positive business outlook
Cambly has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 1,014 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Cambly employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).
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1K reviews
1.0
Aug 8, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook
Pros
Relatively flexibility in terms of scheduling, ability to work from home, meeting interesting students from all over the world
Cons
-does not pay enough, initial wage since early 2010's has not increased adjusted to inflation, cost of living, etc. -almost arbitrary rating system (not even all students have to rate you) with very little explanation, no opportunity for students to give even anonymous feedback for teachers in their ratings -awful technical problems, constantly. The interface constantly breaks, the shared materials and chat often break and students AND teachers can't use them. Awful technical support, barely any human contact or anyone to hold liable. Apologies or answers rarely given -has shut out teachers from work temporarily for EXCUSED absences (did not happen to me, but to many peers I have seen). Cambly refuses to see any medical document you offer to show them, no matter how many times you offer -work environment online that pushes blame onto employees whenever a genuine issue or problem is raised. Racially and culturally insensitive comments frequently posted in the facebook groups where issues are supposed to be "resolved" -will not respond to your serious technical or professional issues, but will take their time to watch your entire videos and nag you about not sitting in the proper position, a minor detail in your background, etc. while students frequently smoke, eat, have loud music playing, drive their cars while talking, and have loud friends and family in the background disrupting lessons. -As a non-heterosexual, I am essentially forced to hide certain mannerisms and lie to 60+% of my clientele about my sexual orientation (as cambly focuses heavily on the middle east) but cambly still instructs its women instructors to "cover up"
5.0
Mar 9, 2018
After one month in, Cambly is a big win for me
Current employee
Wilmington, NC
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook
Pros
The total flexibility of hours worked is a big plus for me as a freelance writer with an irregular assignment and travel schedule. In a little over 30 days, I've talked with 365 people, many for multiple chats. Most of my callers have been from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, and India, but I've also talked with people from maybe two dozen other countries. The Cambly platform works well, especially given the huge throughput from many concurrent video two-way streams which the company also records. Support services respond with personal notes, usually within a day or two. I made a point of being specific about my background in both written and video introductions that student can view before choosing to speak with me. I'm have been and continue as an active tech writer for more than 30 years. Many callers tell me on our first call they chose me because my profile expresses my eagerness to talk about technology and business. Some calls are giggling teenagers, but the vast majority in my experience have been business or professional people or college or graduate students with an intermediate level of English proficiency. Most are in or preparing for new positions which require a higher level of English fluency. They are a determined group intent on improving. The conversations are fun and I'm learning a great deal about other cultures. I also get a sense that I'm representing our country, which is a nice feeling. Plus I'm pleased to hear about the high regard in which most people hold the U.S. A few hours on Cambly is a nice counterbalance to my usual work time hunched over a keyboard in my home office. You get exactly what's described on the Cambly site. Pay is $0.17 per minute and it's paid to your Paypal account each Monday. Some think that means $10.20 an hour, and it does, but only if every single minute of the hour is in conversations. My average minutes on calls is gradually rising, but after four full weeks, I'm averaging about $7.00 an hour.
Cons
The site's high bandwidth at times can make responses a bit slow. In general, it works well, but sometimes waiting for a response can make you double click unnecessarily when lengths response time further. The pay rate is low, but as is the case with many other tutors I've conversed with on Cambly Facebook groups, as a highly flexible part-time gig, it's fine if you're using it for date money or coffee money or, as in my case, to replace some outdated tech and office equipment. Some tutors report making their entire living with Cambly, but they usually live in in areas where the cost of living is much less than in the U.S.
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