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Web Courseworks

Is this your company?

1984. - Anonymous employee Web Courseworks Employee Review

2.0
Apr 16, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free apples, bananas, candy, and soda (albeit bananas only cost ~12 cents each and soda is 25 cents a can at a local market). Beer cart Friday—if you're not under too much deadline pressure to partake. Some very-competent key employees to help things chug along (although they're disappearing). Sprint-based software development and ticket-based QA system. Health benefits and casual dress code. An okay starting point for new grads to hit the ground running with, for the grads themselves. Depending on the department you may have flexible hours.

Cons

Metric heavy. Political. Very high turnover. Lower-tier employees are to expected to keep detailed logs for every minute worked. For a software-based company, most of the employees know little about the software. No UI, UX, or assets department. Management will tell you how long things should take, but not before and after asking what it is that's entailed. For a lot of employees, this is their first or second job out of college or high school, which is fine, except be prepared for resentment and limited time to interface with others. Many middle-level employees have little training and applicable experience and therefore rely EXTREMELY HEAVILY on the lower tiers—especially when it comes to tech and BA. A common "promotion" here is simply from someone else quitting (though it's less of a promotion and more of an extra job title at current pay). For highest management, the company serves mostly as a lifestyle support system—you'll hardly see them around. Many positions are listed as "salaried" but actually paid hourly and you're capped at logging 40 hours a week before people start to freak, and anything less is looked down upon. For being a software and support company, the software is stagnant and dated and—although many from the IT and development teams appear competent on a theoretical level—the tech departments seem pigeonholed and too busy to help. For the most part, change is frowned upon by management and political players. Depending on the department you may have very strict hours (with by-the-minute metrics scrutinized daily on a spreadsheet by management). QA and customer-support employees are openly pitted against each other using a leaderboard system. Some might find it fun, but others, especially non-dedicated QA / CS members, likely find it annoying. Hard to tell, since no one's brave enough to voice a real opinion. Also, certain members are told to smile more and be more positive. Support is told to "always accept" and to never defer or say no (leading to fires down the line). As of recent, chosen support members are expected to offer on-call services from home (with no heightened compensation), and are to be penalized if the phone goes over a certain amount of rings. If your metrics are off, they'll spit you out. Orwellian vibe overall.

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Web Courseworks Response
10y
Thank you for your suggestions for improving the workplace at Web Courseworks. We want to encourage a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. We are open to change and the needs of our team members and take feedback very seriously. We do require team members to log time. This electronic accounting is important for accurately billing our customers. Federal government projects require it. Having metrics also helps us to bid future projects competitively, serve customers better, and improve performance. Metrics are used to improve process; they are not used punitively. We will be reassessing programs, like leaderboard, that could be getting in the way of good collaboration. We also want to encourage a work culture that enables people to lead a balanced life. This means we encourage weekends off and appreciate team member willingness to work extra hours (if necessary). We pay for overtime. Admittedly, we are a “heads down” organization that has a hierarchical structure. This provides a promotion path that many appreciate. Team member satisfaction is important and we will work harder at making Web Courseworks a great place to work.

Explore other reviews about Web Courseworks

5.0
Aug 6, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible work schedule and great people. I was full remote and found it very easy to work with my team and customers. Culture is great and management does listen to feed back. I fully anticipate them addressing my cons/advice in the future. Would highly recommend working here!

Cons

Some departments are overbooked and can cause hiccups for projects turn around time. Some teams have grown and are feeling growing pains. Not a clear roadmap on how I can grow.

4.0
Jun 7, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I've worked here for about 2 years and I haven't had a single day that I regretted having to come in to work. Web Courseworks is flexible and willing to work around your schedule. You can also work remotely. They provide drinks and snacks, and often provide lunch. It's a tech job, and there is a lot of experience that can be gained from the wide range of responsibilities you'll have. The folks that work here are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. The higher-ups are more than happy to assist when you need it. If you have a lot going on, you can always count on your fellow co-workers to roll up their sleeves and pitch in (and believe me, there will be times when you'll have a lot more on your plate than you can handle! Being able to count on the people around you is a HUGE benefit!). Out of the box thinking is not only encouraged but praised. They reward forward thinking and innovation. The company is small enough where if you do good things it doesn't go unnoticed. There is room to grow, with new options becoming available all the time. Compensation is fair for the work that is expected.

Cons

The fast-paced nature of the business can be a lot to handle. Little to no idle time during the average work day, which leaves no time for tasks or projects on your "wishlist". Commuting in the Madison traffic can be a bit frustrating.

3
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