Draper reviews

4.2

90% would recommend to a friend

(72 total reviews)
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Jerry Wohletz

95% approve of CEO

80% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

72 reviews

Reviews about "Culture"

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3.0
Nov 14, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Lots of diverse opportunities - Good technical growth - Upper management is friendly - Good benefits

Cons

- Toxic people in power in specific areas of company - Bullying from middle management - Lack of vision for company + competition between business areas and projects

2.0
Sep 8, 2020

Sad, out of touch, insular company, but has potential to be amazing

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good healthcare and 401k benefits. Exciting projects but only if you are on the engineering side and have a good manager.

Cons

Draper is surprisingly out-of-date for a company that sells itself on doing cutting edge work. Consider the following observations: -The administrative side is run by white men who have been there 20-30 years plus, in many cases. Some have never worked anywhere else, except perhaps the military. Meetings are full of old-fashioned comments and depressing in-jokes about things that happened a very long time ago. -They prefer young, naive new hires to mold as they see fit, and who they can pay lessened who will not question things as much. -Mid-career employees with good experience might get hired, but do not last long. They are seen as a threat. (Probably because they have knowledge of the more progressive outside world. This is a shame, because it is just what Draper needs.) -Management is not interested in what their own teams think. They hire new people and make changes without informing or consulting those who will be directly affected. -Gaslighting: They cowardly sideline the people they do not want, all the while telling them everything is fine, or imply that they are solely the problem until they leave. -Culture of fear: new ideas and problem solving is discouraged. Management does not want to be challenged, they just want to be admired. The respect one gets at a progressive company compared to Draper is astonishing. You do not really understand how toxic your environment is until you are away from it.

4.0
Sep 4, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Projects are very interesting and innovative -Most people you work with are actually very smart, good team members, and genuinely want the project to succeed -403(b) matches 10% for every 5% of your contribution (fully vested after 5 years) -unlimited sick time, very good pay for fresh college grads and masters -Leadership opportunities even for people without PhDs as long as you demonstrate competency or expertise

Cons

-Management is extremely incompetent. They encourage bad behavior from higher-ups. There are minimal consequences for the mistreatment of junior staff. -They keep people who don't deliver, don't do their job well and fire people who actually do the work. -They chose to not offer COVID testing for employees because it was too expensive. They quickly brought people back to work after one week of shutdown with minimal safety precautions. -Projects are often extremely under budgeted. -Every hour of work must be billed to a specific project. Management punishes you for charging overhead even though it is their job to find you work.

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