- The management at OPEXUS is extremely disorganized. Work is very poorly planned and priorities shift on a whim. Time and time again, managers are surprised when the work they didn't fully plan for ends up taking longer than expected.
Some of the recent reviews will try to have you believe that the "fast paced [work] environment" is somehow a benefit. In actuality, the 'fast pace' is derived from a false sense of urgency to meet sudden deadlines. Scrambling to make up for the failures of management is not something to be proud of, and it's certainly not something that belongs in the "Pro" column.
- Despite acknowledging the detrimental effects of distractions on productivity, the CEO insists that "meetings between the meetings" are important and somehow justifies dragging employees into the office. This is even funnier knowing that OPEXUS are happy to outsource roles halfway across the world just to help their bottom line. They talk about the importance of coming into the office to collaborate, as if those same coworkers wouldn't otherwise just be a call or message away. OPEXUS simply do not respect the time, money, or effort required to commute.
- SDE positions are required to record time to an excessive degree. It's easy to get the impression that management wants to milk engineers for everything they're worth, when they're already overworked.
- The compensation is low for a software company - especially one based in Washington, D.C. - and raises have been insultingly low ever since the company was bought out by a private equity firm.
- The culture at the company is an issue. For the reasons above and more, many are disillusioned by OPEXUS's efforts to appear like a fun, hip tech company while simultaneously disregarding its employees and paying them poorly. But just as often, you'll find sycophants who think that company is nearly infallible. You'll even see this schism in the reviews here. There are plenty of reviews that have had scathing critiques much like mine, and there are the few five star reviews that spout company talking-points:
* That they enjoy coming into the office to work with their fellow "OPEXers".
* That the company's rebranding is somehow exciting.
* How they enjoy the company's events. Almost everyone I've immediately worked with has been overworked to the point that they could never spare the time for those events.
And I don't think these people are necessarily being untruthful. I just think the people leaving those reviews are in positions that are largely immune to these conditions. You may also notice that the positive reviews are less likely to indicate their role in the company and are not as "helpful" as other reviews. You can draw your own conclusions based on that information.
The company also likes to tout that it was placed on some list for "best places to work" but routinely fails to address any of the criticisms levied in these reviews. I think it's pretty clear what type of employee has the spare time to fill out surveys about how great the company is.
