Retool Software Engineer reviews

I do not agree with a lot of the recent 1/2 star reviews. Retool is a company with high expectations and so isn't for everyone; my guess is some people who were unfortunately bad fits for their roles or were part of the unfortunate layoffs are bitter about how it turned out. Retool is in the middle of a couple of awkward transitions: becoming a bigger/more mature company, the end of the ZIRP era, shuffling leadership, and refocusing its strategy. The company has made some big stumbles in these transitions. There's a lot of tech debt, the culture is not great (though the company is making some pretty valiant and consistent efforts to improve it over time), and the strategy is still in flux. That said, the company seems to be taking these things seriously and I have faith we'll figure it out in the long run. Retool is also a very very young and hacky company. People are high caliber relative to their level of experience, but there's a lack of overall experience in many parts of the org. That is also an opportunity for applicants, though: if you are highly experienced, you can probably come in and have a huge impact and mentor a lot of younger professionals to level up.

Bad comp especially equity: We have a high rejection rate of offers for this reason. Bad refreshers - Too bad your offer was low but maybe if you prove your worth you get more equity. No. You won't. Ruthless culture - No rewards, but if you don't do well you get fired. Retool is infamous for firing employees before their vesting cliff. Can't waste equity like that. High churn - If you survived the above funnel, you'd now see your comp staying way behind other companies, so you leave. We have an abnormally high churn for a "high growth" company. ~0 OG employees completed their 4 years of vest. Most leave after 2 years. Low growth - For all of 2023, our revenue growth is negligible. Our valuation is high. Go figure. Questionable leadership - Founders and leaders do a poor job of maintaining a healthy culture. Nobody asks for feedback about their own leadership.