Sweetwater reviews

4.0

77% would recommend to a friend

(540 total reviews)
avatar

Mike Clem

88% approve of CEO

72% positive business outlook

Sweetwater has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 540 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sweetwater employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

540 reviews
1.0
Jan 18, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Absolutely none to speak of.

Cons

Where do I begin? They promised to pay moving expenses when relocating and never did pay back my $4k I paid out of pocket. Then they pay you absolutely nothing to sit in a classroom for months on end learning their ways of selling and you are tested weekly on these subjects. Part of the test is building a “System Design” for an imaginary client. I passed every one of those with flying colors. They even made us sit through church training where we had to watch parts of church services to “better help us seek to customers”. After you’ve completed months of training, they tell you how much to expect making your first year and it is no exaggeration to say you couldn’t survive in most places with that amount. It was under $20k a year. I had been open with my direct supervisors about my personal financial hardships I was facing and still showed up every day. I came in one week when I was incredibly sick and still worked hard. Management had pulled me in and told me they are not going to continue with me because they decided my personal hardships were going to be too challenging for me. To get out of allowing me to receive unemployment, they offered me a different position that was less than half of what I was barely making already. I lost everything with my move to Indiana and (despite what their facade of a program states) their lack of care for their employees. They also actively support the extreme right wing conservatives. They are capitalistic monsters. Sweetwater is an absolute joke and cult of a company. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST!

1.0
Jul 9, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you really hate your wife and kids l, this is the job for you The gear library was probably the best part. Ability to check out instruments and equipment at no cost.

Cons

They deceived me in the job interview process. It wasn’t until I moved across the country that they told me I’d be working 50 to 60 hour weeks and 11 hour days consistently. In my job interview I was told they would be a little bit of overtime, but nothing like this. Having a dog or being a single parent is nearly impossible at this job. You’re expected to stay in communication with customers, even when you’re not at your office and off hours. They don’t tell you what they’ll be testing you on during the training program. it makes a necessary stress and less educated sales engineers. They might as well rename it, Tinseltown, because every manager and admin is fake for the most part. everyone’s a huge derrière with a smile. This company needs to take a look back on what used to make it great because it’s lost it. I guess that’s what happens when venture buys it out.

avatar
Sweetwater Response
1y
It pains me to hear that you did not have a good experience during your time with us. Our HR team members go to great lengths to paint an accurate picture of our work environment and expectations since they have no interest in creating difficulty for someone or a situation where someone desires to leave and they then need to fill a position again. However, you are correct that the Sales Engineer role is not a basic, clock in-clock out, 40 hour-week role. We invest tremendous resources in paying to relocate team members and providing 13 weeks of paid training and then we do have some expectations about performance along the way. We never enjoy having to end someone's employment. Our desire is always to help everyone succeed. But if they are unable to fulfill the expectations of our customers and their fellow colleagues after having received significant training, coaching, and multiple chances to succeed, sometimes it becomes necessary. Our customers simply deserve great support and we unapologetically all work hard to help ensure they receive it. Along the way, we also work hard to ensure our employees and their families are well taken care of with resources like free mental health counseling, a free fitness center, a free doctor & medical clinic, parental leave, DailyPay and interest free employee-loan programs, and much more. Thank you for sharing your feedback. We'll use it to continue to improve our efforts. I wish you nothing but the best with your next steps. - Jeff Ostermann, Chief People & Culture Officer
1.0
Nov 3, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked a Sweetwater for a year and made some amazing life long friends there. The people are the best part here! Everyone is extremely passionate in what they can offer to others, and the company thrives and constantly benefits from taking advantage of them for their skills without proper pay. Their motto is ‘do the right thing’ and it only ever translates to ‘doing the right thing to make the most profit for the shareholders’ The only Pro is the people I’ve met in my year of employment. I left because I could not stand seeing my friends struggling to make ends meet as I was. There are plently of better paying jobs requiring less working hours and experience in Fort Wayne Indiana, and that says a LOT.

Cons

Horrible work life balance. Sales Engineers are expected to work at least 50-60 hours a week with unpaid mandatory meetings. I still struggle to this day figuring out how this is legal. The onsite cafe is a con for people working in the retail store or campus operations because we barely make enough to make ends meet, then they charge us more for food and extend the taxes to us. We charge our food to our badges, it comes right out of our pay check. They pay us less money because we buy food there and we pay for the taxes of it all. The culture overall is awful. They pat themselves on the back for ‘donating to local charities’ while most of the people working there do not make enough or have enough free time to actually spend money in the Fort Wayne community and make it a better place for all. How is it good for business to not invest in your people who will then in turn invest in your community? Do NOT move to Fort Wayne for this company, they are masters of bait and switch. Do NOT sign their 18 month employment contract. Phone calls are becoming obsolete and the company is not adapting fast enough to keep up with the new market, but no matter how logically and redundant employees will retort back to this insane business practice, they will not budge. You will NOT make enough money to make ends meet the first few years of being a sales engineer and that is a completely unacceptable way of people treated by a company. Do not get deceived by their salary ranges posted online as they are not correct. Those numbers are obviously old but not they have hundreds, almost a thousand sales engineers fighting for scraps while the sales guys who started with sweetwater back in 2001 hoards all the best clients. The sales guys who make it here are ruthless and horrible to each other. HR will do everything they can to cover their own tracks. If you go to them with concerns, expect to be gaslight and shoved aside. And that is, if you can even get in to meet with them as they will mostly ignore you. Everything (I mean EVERYTHING) is surveilled in the building. HR keeps records of all your emails, all your private meetings with them or your superiors. They have cameras everywhere. They do not trust their employees and treat us all like we are future lawsuits waiting to happen. They handle people with disabilities like they are damaged goods that just “can’t keep up with our high energy culture”, when in actuality their expectations are extremely unrealistic. The kinds of people who survive and move up in this company are newly graduated college students who have no concept of boundaries, living expenses, or personal goals. They want to take over your life and mold you into this perfect idea of a sweetwater shill. If you are a differently abled or a creative person (like most of the people they hire here because we are all musicians!!!) then you will STRUGGLE until they break you into submission. I wouldn’t wish working for this company on my worst enemy. If I could give less than 1 star for it, I would.

avatar
Sweetwater Response
2y
I'm really sorry to hear your that this was your perspective at Sweetwater. There is a bit too much here to respond to in one message but I'll share a few thoughts. First, I'm not aware of HR having ever sent a message about putting money in a jar for a coffee - that would be a pretty odd email. If you have details on that one please feel free to send me a direct message (you can find my email online) and I'd love to hear more about it. Second, the company did not grow 30% in profit last year. That is not accurate. We did experience sales growth (top line) but running a company always involves more than top line - it involves handling expenses of a company that can often grow at a much different pace....and managing a company well for the long haul means managing these well also. (The fact that Sweetwater has never laid anyone off in our 44 year history.....including through really tough economic times.... is a good testament to the fact that the company leadership has been managing this balance pretty well.) It's also not true that no one got raises last year. In fact, our total company raise percentage in 2023 was higher than the national average and has been for the past several years. The reality is that we're putting more money into raises than most companies around the country. Again, I feel terrible that your experience with Sweetwater left a bad taste in your mouth. We're working hard to take care of our employees and we'll keep working hard to do even better in the future. - Jeff Ostermann, Chief People & Culture Officer
Viewing 13 - 15 of 540 Reviews

Glassdoor has 569 Sweetwater reviews submitted anonymously by Sweetwater employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sweetwater is right for you.