Stay Away - Not a place to grow professionally
Pros
Casual work environment - Jeans every day and shorts in the summer Nice coworkers - fellow employees were nice and easy to get along with. Some free snacks Pay was decent Fitness center in the basement along with cafeteria - fitness center is a bit bigger than a hotel gym but is good for supplemental workouts in a pinch. Formal 30/60/90 day reviews - it appeared that there were efforts to hear the employees concerns and get a true feel for performance and happiness. Note that most pros from employees are non-work related.
Cons
I will preface that I was let go involuntarily. However, I was in the process of looking for a new job due to dissatisfaction with the company. Thatcher just beat me to the punch. I was hired and let go within three months. Note: I had 10 years of experience as a BA and have never encountered a company/process like this before. I am trying to be as straightforward as possible, while also providing scenarios that provide insight into what future employees may possibly face. Upon applying to Thatcher, I read the reviews and was startled by what comments people were leaving. However, I always try to take negative reviews with a grain of salt since its mostly people who have negative experiences who post reviews. Unfortunately, the negative reviews on here are fairly accurate. You will notice a trend that every poster states similar critiques. This isn't just a coincidence. Please avoid this place unless you truly have no other options. 1. No room for employee value to be added. Whatever the president says, goes. - Example. During a group meeting for an update, a developer proposed two possible solutions. He stated that one solution would be better for long term maintenance, but that we were going with the other solution that was easier up front because that's what the president said we should do. There was no room for the team to make its own decisions. - While a process is in place (BA performance analysis/requirements, sends to implementation team/dev team to complete) there is no true ability for employees to use the skills they are truly hired for. The process is set by management and we must follow it. 2. Micromanagement - Related to my first point above, the president has a say or a hand in almost all aspects of the company. I understand that he is very knowledgeable of the product, but I believe that is because nobody sticks around long enough to become an SME, so he has to be nvolved. 3. High turnover - I asked a few coworkers why there were no real name plates up on the cubicles(only paper name tags), they laughed and then said that people don’t stay here long enough to get real plates. This might not be the actual reason why from a management perspective, but from my experience it is accurate - In my three months of employment, 10% of the company either quit or was let go. 4. The President (For any BA interested, you will need to work with the President closely for requirements gathering.) - He is extremely rude and degrading. I mentioned salary as a pro, however it was used as negative reinforcement. When my performance wasn't exactly what he was looking for, he told me "man to man" (his words) that he pays me a lot of money and if I don’t perform better that he doesn’t need me there….I don’t know about anyone else, but that doesn’t make an employee want to work hard/or at all for a company. - Disrespectful - a project wasn't going smoothly, so a PM and myself had a meeting with the president to discuss the situation. During the meeting, as we were explaining, he pulled out his cell phone, walked to the other side of the room and carried on a conversation with someone while we waited for him to finish so we could continue explaining ourselves. - During my interview process, I asked about other reviews regarding the president's behavior. HR told me that he is a nice guy because he bought the company hot dogs….that does not excuse his bullying and verbal mistreatment of employees. 5. Agile claims are false - I am Scrum Master certified and can say that the Agile process was NOT followed during my tenure. 6. Termination process - This situation was just offensive. I was brought into the HR office about a half hour after I arrived to work. I was told that I was being let go (no problem there). However, I was told that I would not be allowed to go back to my desk to gather my belonging, or be allowed to say goodbye to any coworkers. They actually had a coworker gather all of my stuff in a box and bring it to hr. They asked me if that was everything I had, but I couldn’t be for sure since I couldn’t look at my desk area. That is unacceptable. - When I inquired about why I was being let go, I was told that they would not like to get into it and wanted to keep it short. I was given no performance based reason as to why I was being let go.
