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General Assembly

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General Assembly reviews

3.5

34% would recommend to a friend

(624 total reviews)

Daniele Grassi

43% approve of CEO

25% positive business outlook

General Assembly has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 624 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The General Assembly employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

624 reviews
3.0
Feb 11, 2018

A good place to work that makes it hard to stay

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

My coworkers are very smart and generally lovely to talk to. We do interesting work and I’ve learned a ton on the job. The offices are in a great location and are nice and sunny. The culture is casual and young. It’s a good mission and you can feel good about the work you do. Dogs in the office and occasional free lunch.

Cons

If you look around on LinkedIn you’ll find the average tenure is maybe a year or 18 months? If you stick around longer than average, you’ll see your friends leave and find yourself rehashing the same problems over and over again with new faces. The work in almost any role can be extremely stressful due to rapidly changing priorities, team departures, being under resourced, financial instability and junior managers. There are so few growth opportunities that management now only reports one figure that lumps lateral moves in with promotions. They negotiate bonuses when signing people on, but haven’t paid them in years. I have also heard about phantom shares. Prepare to fight like hell for raises and promotions, and prepare for them not to come through.

4.0
Aug 12, 2016

Different Era

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people at GA are some of the most hard-working, passionate, intelligent and fun people I've had the pleasure of getting to know - simply the best crew (minus a few bad eggs in managerial/leadership positions, who seem to think they breathe different air than the rest of us simply because they've been there from the beginning). It is truly a mission-driven company that has changed (and is still changing) people's lives and careers. Don't take my word for it, just read some of the glowing reviews from students and alumni. GA has made an effort in recent years to really grow in important ways, such as providing staff with professional development opportunities and career paths for those who want to seek it out, which is a huge plus. They've still got a long way to go to reach maturity, but they're trying. Establishing 360 reviews, empowering individuals to try new things and start new initiatives and providing additional training for new/young managers are all steps in the right direction to show the staff how invested the company is in them long-term. Some other perks: - team lunch every Tuesday at HQ - staff can take unlimited, complimentary classes and workshops as long as there are available seats (ongoing professional development) - small health stipend - phone is paid for - transportation stipend - 401k option (though not matching) - solid parental leave policies in place (relatively new)

Cons

...with all that said, here are the cons: - heard they just went through a round of layoffs, which has everyone jittery and anxious about when the next one will be (and there will be a next one, if you know how this stuff works). this has contributed to lower morale than people have been used to at GA. - things can get clique-y in NYC, especially with those who have been at the company longer (hello, recognize that new hires can bring stuff to the table too, you don't need institutional knowledge to contribute great ideas). make sure you're leveraging everyone's strengths, because everyone has their own. amplify those once you've identified them. - young/new managers need more support and guidance than they're currently receiving or asking for, even if they don't think so - I heard on several occasions (at least 3x) employees talk about how they couldn't respect their managers because they didn't trust their decision-making and misguided management styles. This may sound typical, yes, but think about how many new managers there must be at a startup and how stretched everyone must be - typical manager-direct report tension is heightened simply because of lack of bandwidth as well as lack of experience (because 90% of the company is comprised of millennials) - sometimes it feels tough to be an intrapreneur unless you've been at the company for awhile. you see the potential for what GA could be but don't really know how to effectively voice or implement those changes because you're the new person. your word doesn't carry a lot of weight and you're not entirely sure what channels are available to use to communicate your suggestions and feedback. I mention all this because I actually care about the success of the company and the people who are still there. I developed incredibly strong, genuine relationships and hope to see the company continue to do well.

1.0
Dec 10, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

the people are incredible and some of the best, most competent & dedicated folks ive worked with in my entire career. there are no other positive points about the company.

Cons

the entire company is in shambles right now. more than 10 executives & senior leadership team members have left within 3 months as well as countless individual contributors. the ceo is checked out and on to his next business, there are 2 co-coo's (yes, you read that right) and neither of them have been operators in the past. the bleeding of talent will continue.

Viewing 10 - 12 of 624 Reviews

Glassdoor has 904 General Assembly reviews submitted anonymously by General Assembly employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if General Assembly is right for you.