OutSystems reviews

This used to be a great company and a great place to work. The kind of place where you would feel joy to wake up and come to work. Now I can only say that it's nothing like it was and the joy it's not the same. It's a growing company with a fast pace but some of it seems artificial. 30% to 50% of the workforce joined in the past year in what it seems to be an attempt to inflate evaluation. Strategy change almost every 6 months with major reorgs every couple of years but the product remains basically the same for the past 2/3 years when mobile was introduced and the web part is getting outdated fast. Amidst this constant change and turmoil a few things are emerging: - Everyone likes to brag on how smart and "special" our people are but the truth is that there are some "not so special" people and those seem to be riding the wave and getting themselves to top positions. Nowadays it seems everyone is a director a VP or Head of something and in some cases without having done much to justify it. - It used to be a clear meritocracy with low politics but now unless you're good at self promoting or you're friends with someone you can pretty much kiss goodbye to any intentions of progressing. - Despite the fact that talent in the technology is scarce the few talent that exists is treated as if it was expendable. There's a career plan that seems to be more for show off and attract external people than anything else and there's not a real focus on developing people as it existed in the past. - The famous" OutSystems culture" is barely hanging. Despite the honorable attempts from the HR group there's a lot of backstabbing and politics emerging.

The last year at the company spells trouble ahead. Although the business results were OK, culture quickly transforming into a toxic rubbish pit. Arrogance, incompetence, nepotism... The CEO is conspicuously absent from the frontlines, only concerned with the internal workings. He seems to harbour the belief that everyone around him is stupid and often vocalizes this in public. His desired to surround himself with sycophants is well known. The rate of executive turnover is very high, and the management team in general feels jaded and disconnected. The most recent interesting development is the assembly of a merry men "Business Operations" function - ex-McKinsey personnel. They gallivant around different departments, attempting to proffer advice in the manner of the typical consultant... little substance, abundant hubris, and comical in their attempts to instruct others on how to perform their duties. They are viewed as the running joke within the company and seem to be blissfully oblivious to this fact. Following the "Business Operations Optimization Process", Marketing underwent layoffs and now it appears that all others departments will be similarly affected.