Amazing place to work - learn new things every day - Software Developer Menlo Innovations Employee Review

5.0
May 25, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place to work. I highly recommend. Very collaborative environment with a wonderfully supportive team. Great pay and benefits. They are always looking to improve their processes and policies to meet the needs of employees. For example, you'll see older reviews talking about how workers were contractor rather than employee, or that pay was low. In 2018, they dedicated resources to reevaluate their pay structure and benefits and have since implemented that change and new pay scale. It's a flat organization structure, so decisions are made as a team, not by a distant group of management closed away in their office. If you are a full-time employee with an HMO health plan, Menlo covers 100% of the monthly premium for you & your family. If you choose to be a variable employee without benefits, your hourly pay rate is instead increased proportionally. There is paid paternity/maternity leave. You can bring your baby and/or dog to work. Pairing on projects prevents anyone from becoming a tower of knowledge--which is great for the company as well as the employees. Even senior-level employees can easily schedule a week-long (or sometimes even month-long) vacation and not have to worry about all kinds of decisions and fire-fighting waiting for them when they get back. We carry on business as usual.

Cons

Dealing with problem employees can be rather hairy. Letting someone go can be a long process and as far as I've seen is rarely done. Sometimes you will be paired with someone you do not get along with or do not like. It isn't fun and can lead to a draining and frustrating work week, but thankfully it might be months before you have to pair with them again. Though our tours tend to talk up how many introverts work here, know that you'll still need to cultivate your extrovert skills if you expect to get promotions. Talking in front of groups, advocating for yourself, and volunteering for tasks is the just short list. The team will support you in all of it, but expect to be pushed out of your comfort zone fairly regularly. Practice makes perfect and it gets easier over time, but it takes some getting used to. Paying for parking is a pain point. Only full-time employees qualify for a parking pass and even those are in short supply. If you are on the wait list you get some reimbursement, but you will likely be paying more than that out of pocket. Once the current office lease is up in about 3 years we'll be relocating--location not yet chosen--and there is a strong consensus that we'll be looking for somewhere with free parking available, so it is a problem that will hopefully resolve itself soon enough.

Explore other reviews about Menlo Innovations

5.0
Nov 13, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great work life balance, good co working space, and a culture that supports life long learning.

Cons

Pay could be better given industry standards

1.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Newer developers can learn a lot very quickly because of the pairing model.

Cons

The company's mission is to bring joy to the people who build, use, and pay for technology, but it has become so abundantly clear that the leadership does not actually care about the people building it. As a developer, you are a set of hands capable of producing billable hours, nothing more. The leadership frequently, loudly scoffs at developers for sharing technical know-how with the larger team. The culture prides itself on being resistant to people leaving, so instead of raising eyebrows when people leave, leadership says "look! it's working!". There are no more senior engineers left at the company because anyone who can get a new job in this market has left. Leadership's response when asked about the exodus of senior dev's was "It's time for you all to step up". When individuals become too outspoken, they are pulled privately into rooms by leadership and told to keep their voice lower. The only way to move up in the company is by being on the good side of the omni-benevolent Senior Leadership Team. Pays well below industry average, and the CEO publicly cracks jokes about the amount that they pay.

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