employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Radiant Vision Systems

Is this your company?

Radiant Vision Systems reviews

3.3

48% would recommend to a friend

(15 total reviews)

Hitoshi Kamezawa

100% approve of CEO

48% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

15 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

Return to all reviews
3.0
Mar 21, 2014

Great place to work

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The best reason for working here would be the challenges you face. Like many small companies, you are asked to wear many different hats. You will grow quickly if you jump at these opportunities. Also, the people here are smart and fun to work with.

Cons

Slightly lower than standard wage. It is in the farthest corner of Redmond. It can be quite a commute no matter where you live.

1.0
Feb 9, 2014

Not worth your time

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The employees are, for the most part, bright and talented people. I enjoyed getting to know almost everyone at the company.

Cons

There are a number of significant problems. To start, this was a very uncomfortable place to work. It was clear initially that there's no respect or real communication between the top managers and the rest of the company. There are of course people who will point out problems to HR and their managers, but these people are either lied to or ignored and end up leaving the company due to sheer frustration. I found that I needed to adopt an indifferent mindset during my time there to avoid sharing in this frustration, but again, that was very uncomfortable. Lots of talent has been lost. All tasks were given with explicit instructions that they were top priority, but there was no ownership and little accountability for these tasks. Lots of work that was labeled "Top Priority" simply didn't get done because it wasn't assigned in a straightforward manner, there was no follow up, or tasks were assigned to people who do not have the necessary skills. This became a serious problem, and our customers noticed. The CEO's stated goal is to sell the company in the next couple years. Many employees are concerned about the long term stability of the company, and while I didn't feel this was a concern, the CEO's short term mindset has filtered down through the rest of the company. This is a company without a plan (hence everything being top priority). Products are shipped to customers with the short term goal of selling a product, and not the long term consideration of whether or not the product worked, or would continue to work a year later. We shipped hardware and software to customers that didn't work, and no one seemed to care about this even if they acknowledged it. Our customers definitely noticed this. This company is stagnant. They will not fail due to the problems listed above, but they aren't going anywhere either. They will likely continue to putter along much as they have thus far, and probably achieve some sporadic success. This won't matter to you, however. Your pay will be below average (especially given the cost of living in Redmond, it is surprisingly low), unless you're a manager. You will have to deal with the problems listed above, and your career will feel as stagnant as the company. If you are a skilled scientist, engineer, salesman, accountant, programmer, manager, or any other professional, there is no reason to work here. You will succeed much more elsewhere.

1.0
Oct 20, 2013

Great Technology and People, but Poisonous Management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people that work at Radiant Zemax below management-level are, largely, wonderful. Lunches with coworkers - food, sports, running, shopping - were the norm. Regular happy hours, afterwork/weekend parties and gatherings, and general camaraderie made the social culture great. The technology and software RZ is developing remains bleeding edge, as well, and anyone fascinated with optics/light/mechanical engineering/product design have many options.

Cons

Management is absolutely terrible. Both initial companies were founded by brainy engineers that have since taken on various VP roles, leaving company direction in the hands of an MBA that is looking exclusively to sell. As such, nobody at the top has any managerial experience or training, so yelling, favoritism, and a culture of 'every project is critical' is the norm. Everyone at the top is just waiting for their golden parachute to come in, and all make 6-figures and get regular bonuses. No one below the top 10 get stock options, everyone else is salaried and expected to happily put in 60 hour workweeks and be able to travel out of country weeks on end at will. Work/life balance is something an employee is expected to figure out 'on their own time'. Work functions are either inane or creepy, and seem largely geared towards management's children instead of employees. Pay is, at best, 80% of the industry standard, and benefits are laughable. Bonuses are measured against whether management likes you, and the occasional random treat - largely lunches or tickets to local sporting events that management isn't using that night - always go to attractive salespeople and/or brownosers. Quarterly management meetings are uncomfortable - individuals and departments are regularly called out on supposed faults - and lack substance. Anyone that raises concerns (pay, benefits, morale, treatment, improvements, etc) are dismissed or hassled, and management regularly polls employees for 'dirt' on others. If none of the above has convinced you, here's three specific points to consider: - 3 different HR people have quit in the last year, and the latest was hired solely to find new hires and stop the mass exodus. - One of the VPs has a pair of cars that combined cost well over $700,000, and both were purchased in the same year. This is more than every single engineer, support engineer, programmer, and other technical staff make COMBINED annually. - Absolutely nothing is measured or balanced against former or current employees, resulting in situations where a manager of a team of 4 makes 50% more than a manager of a team of 9, but then hired someone that made more than themselves. Since the entire companies payroll was inadvertently made public, everyone knows this. Titles, experience, education? Meaningless.

Viewing 13 - 15 of 15 Reviews

Glassdoor has 41 Radiant Vision Systems reviews submitted anonymously by Radiant Vision Systems employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Radiant Vision Systems is right for you.