Dynamics reviews

2.5

37% would recommend to a friend

(81 total reviews)

Jeff Mullen

35% approve of CEO

37% positive business outlook

Dynamics has an employee rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, based on 81 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Dynamics employee rating is 33% below average for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

81 reviews
4.0
Dec 17, 2015

Changed Days

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I joined the engineering team about a year ago. The best reason for an engineer to work at Dynamics is to work on a truly flexible consumer electronic product that has the potential to be in every hand in the world. There is a lot of flexible printed circuit products and components out there, but they are flexible at the manufacturing level and are in a rigid environment for the final application. Dynamics' card must be able to work under every condition you can imagine using a credit card. That's a great challenge for an engineering team and one that will get solved somewhere, and probably here. My next comment is about Jeff Mullen, CEO. There's a lot of negative stuff about him on Glassdoor, but I want to provide a perspective that leads me to say the next best reason to work here is it has a CEO who is committed to the success of the company. I've worked on 4 continents for large companies and small, with a range of cultures and leaders, some of whom paid lip service to success but were more interested in racing cars and living large. I've also worked in Pittsburgh for a really great guy whose start-up had great technology but the company couldn't hit that critical velocity and it's now defunct. Jeff Mullen, in seven years, from a standing start, has Dynamics cards in the field with a major international customer and over a 110M raised. Ask yourself, would you rather work for a guy who's on his own learning curve and making mistakes but committed to figuring out how to succeed as a global tech manufacturing company in Western PA against competitors in China, Korea, Germany, Brazil... or a nice person with nice tech? As a father with kids who will some day need to go to college, I know which one I'd choose. The last reason I'll mention is the people. The engineering management team has the brains, the energy and the commitment to do this job. The whole team, engineering and beyond, is filled with smart, capable, decent hardworking people who make it about the work. That's enough really.

Cons

In my opinion, all other comments notwithstanding, the downsides all arise from the fact that we're doing something that is difficult and we (from the CEO down) haven't figured it out yet. But I've seen huge strides in the last year and as more and more issues get identified and knocked down, this place will get better and better. I can't say I recognize the descriptions of the company that have been put up here, though I here the stories around the office. But I've worked in far harsher environments than here. So I'd say the seasons have changed at Dynamics and I'm starting to feel the wind at my back.

1.0
Nov 26, 2015

Salaried Employee - Manager

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some very good experienced people have been hired. The product is interesting with apparent upside. Some of the board appear to be accomplished, and some big names have invested. A good story, on paper.

Cons

Jeff as a leader is a big negative. Accomplishments have been and continue to be exaggerated, and the rate of progress too slow. Promises made appear to be rarely kept. I have seen too many accomplished senior employees come in to the company and leave after a while with their resumes damaged. The work environment is very toxic causing there to be a general negative environment most of the time. People avoid putting in extra effort or putting forward new ideas as they will be shot down by Jeff. It is confusing to me why Jeff does not allow progress to happen. Very slow decision making as a result of Jeff needing to be involved in everything.

1.0
Oct 23, 2015

Apparently Nothing Has Changed

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I now have a reason to procrastinate for a few minutes checking to see who's quit and if anyone's posted new reviews. A few of the solid folk appear to be still around - I won't name them, in the interest of their remaining employed, but there's quite a bit of quality if you look for it.

Cons

First, I want to say that these comments pertain to Jeff Mullen and are *not* emblematic of anyone else I worked with. Unfortunately, his management "style" doesn't allow the more experienced to prevail, so any job at Dynamics is subject to his whims. The two areas of my most concern are: lack of ethics and focus on marketing while disregarding product quality. When representatives from a bank flew in to visit the production facilities (largely, I presume, because the company was way behind the promised quota), the entire company was informed to turn the whiteboards to the wall that could have shown them the *true* production numbers. All of which is an example of the strategy of marketing / sales without concern about how the promises made will be met, or about product quality. The equipment for the production line was barely in place in time for the major release, and certainly no cohesive production processes / quality control standards had been implemented. (Do a search for CIBC Double Double complaints... I don't think I've read complaints about the *physical* credit card before this one). Bringing upper management down to work on the production line naturally just made things worse. Originally, I was psyched about the technology, which now, frankly, is old hat. Even were the technology to remain at the cutting edge, poor production makes it irrelevant. So, in sum, don't work here. Unless you really don't care about what you're contributing to the world and can tune out the Jeff.

Viewing 64 - 66 of 81 Reviews

Glassdoor has 85 Dynamics reviews submitted anonymously by Dynamics employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Dynamics is right for you.