A people-oriented culture with unbalanced business priorities - Software Developer Springbot Employee Review

4.0
Sep 13, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company truly does value its people from the top down. Brooks, the CEO, is approachable and down-to-earth, and my managers genuinely cared about me and my peers. There are volunteer programs and team socials, great company parties, good coffee and beer on tap, etc. The software team is boisterous and open to self-expression. Toys, games, and goofing around are uninhibited as long as the work gets done. I often had to go into a quiet room to focus, but they do exist for that purpose. It's a very straight-cis-white-guy team, which I am not, but the very few times I had a problem with a coworker were handled appropriately and with real human concern on all levels. The actual work was interesting enough, and I felt empowered to make decisions on how to do it without a lot of friction. But it's really the people who kept me there for as long as I did, and made me respect the company as much as I do.

Cons

The divisions within the company are unusually strong for its small size, and I saw them getting worse as it grows. The sales team seems to get the most priority from the top and the least respect from everyone else; from the outside, that side of the office often seems like a daytime frat party. For all the growth and new investment, the development team has stayed nearly the same size for years, and views itself as undervalued. New software requirements and deadlines are too often determined by other teams without input from those who will be doing the work. Usability and acceptance decisions are made by non-technical managers, not by customers. Employees are expected to provide their own computers to do their work. It took years for them to offer an inadequate stipend for this, and the result is a chaotic mix of technologies with no one in charge of supporting them. This always struck me as bizarre, and my concerns that it was hurting them in recruiting developers were met with shrugs. Training and advancement opportunities are mediocre. In the time I was on the dev team, exactly one internal employee made it to a management/architecture and stayed there. Their concept of an education program is to reimburse 50% on books, conferences (not travel), and so forth after the fact. It's very hard for developers to switch roles to things they'd be better at, and decisions affecting the team as a whole are often opaque.

Explore other reviews about Springbot

5.0
Sep 25, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place, innovative product, elite team

Cons

Stressful, demanding, similar to other startups

1.0
Dec 17, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You can work remotely and the team is flexible in schedule

Cons

New ownership took over this year and the software is no longer in existance. The old version of Springbot is now just a product that is no longer supported and broken. The new Springbot is them selling prospecting data to you, but really they are just using other tools that you could use yourself with more success. Also the leadership is "boys club" - almost all the women have been let go and they have only hired friends of the group without doing legit background checks. This has led to it becoming a disaster of a "business". They also dont believe in hiring real employees, they believe everything can be done for $10 an hour or via AI. No real opportunities here.

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