Focus School Software reviews

Management blames employees unfairly to cover their own mistakes and then directs falsehoods to senior management/HR. Management also holds grudges, favors certain employees over others without cause, etc. I don't think this applies to most senior management (i.e. CEO/director of operations). I had my role/work focus switched without being asked if I wanted to make a change. My favorite part of my work was given to someone else. My direct supervisor is also quick to deny that any of my suggestions are worthwhile. I know I have things to learn, but I'm not always wrong. The salaries are honestly pretty bad for technical roles. We would love better benefits - higher 401k match, the ability to work remote for X amount of days/weeks per year, etc. A lot of people love Focus and would probably have stayed if they were paid more/offered better packages. I'd also love much more frequent team gatherings (monthly happy hour?) I am holding out hope that things change for the better (either environment or pay) because just a few months ago, I was the happiest I'd ever been at work. I have been trying hard to receive Employee of the Month. But now that things have become pretty sour, it's been a struggle to keep up my morale. I would love the opportunity to move up in Focus but don't feel like that will happen - especially with the favoritism stacked against me.

Ok, where to begin.... To start, I've never seen such awful management. Don't be fooled by their "open door policy." By that, they mean you can walk in with an idea, and be turned down without discussion. This is a company that is filling the CEO's bank account and has absolutely ZERO desire to improve, innovate, and actually grow and be competitive on the national level. They are comfortable where they are, and that's the end of the story. Don't waste your time trying to think of better or cooler ways to do something, your input will not be heard. The CEO is completely incompetent and places incompetent employees in the highest levels of management. Of course this isn't true for everyone, but in a lot of cases is definitely true. As developers, quantity over quality is the absolute truth. If you are the type of person who likes to make sure your work is quality, you will not be a good fit here. As any respectable software engineer/developer knows, this leads to bugs and overall bad code. Which means your job will mostly consist of trying to fix other peoples poorly written code once it breaks something on production - which is almost always the case. Career development does not exist here. If you want to learn and have opportunities to grow as a developer and as a person, find somewhere else to work. In my time working there, I heard from my direct supervisor maybe once a month and had 0 performance reviews (or even an informal discussion of my performance). In the software industry, an average work week is about 40 hours per week. Expect to work 60+ hours a week with no compensation. Weekends are also not yours, you will often be required to work all weekend long in order to meet deadlines that were poorly communicated with you. It’s not uncommon to hear from your boss at 11 or 12 at night needing something done by the morning. Prepare for a severe caffeine addiction as lack of sleep will be a common thing unless you are strict with yourself and your boss that once the work day is over, the workday is over. A lot of the people here are great people. I've seen (and heard of) a lot of really talented developers quit due to truly awful management, absurdly low pay, and no company structure. The CEO doesn't learn from the past, and doesn't try to improve this environment in order to keep the talent he acquires.