WiredTree reviews

3.0

44% would recommend to a friend

(7 total reviews)

Zac Cogswell

55% approve of CEO

26% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

7 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

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1.0
Jun 18, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

WiredTree is an awful place to work, but it is a place to work. It's pretty easy to get hired there, if you seem to know your way around linux they'll give you a chance. And the people who survive more than a few months are quite remarkable, smart and hard-working and funny without exception, and somehow they deliver a high quality of service in spite of everything.

Cons

Severe, chronic, almost criminal understaffing. They're trying to compete against larger companies with a skeleton crew and the workload and stress level are off the charts. Every single day you feel like you're skirting the edge of disaster, and nothing ever gets better. Upper management is cheap, dishonest, erratic, unprofessional and almost comically disorganized. I think they're smart nerds who got picked on a lot and grew up to be frightened, angry and mean. They seem to be unaware of, or unconcerned with, the constant frustration faced by employees and refuse to take responsibility for anything. Their solution to every problem is to "push harder", "dig deeper", "go the extra mile". Training is minimal and largely irrelevant. Documentation consists of the google and a hit-or-miss wiki. Support policies are ill-defined, usually ex-post-facto and sometimes contradictory. There is no solutions database, no issue tracking, no trends analysis. Admins are constantly re-inventing the wheel. Back-end infrastructure is held together with chewing gum, velcro, and ebury worms. Like everything else about the place, it was thrown together in great haste and without a plan. Pay is very low and benefits almost non-existent. Bottom line, everybody, and I mean everybody, eventually gets fed up and quits.

avatar
WiredTree Response
12y
Thanks for your review of your time here at WiredTree. I can say that that we have been working hard on fixing any pain points that our staff may feel. I wish you would have provided this feedback in the 6 month staff reviews that we give all employees or gave us some of your frustrations in the monthly anonymous surveys we send out to staff. Beyond that, I would have had no problem sitting down to talk to you about your feelings about your career here and worked with you to make positive change. I am really sorry that you felt that management didn't care about your hard work. We truly care about everyone that works at WT and I feel that we have been trying really hard to get honest feedback such as this so we can make positive changes. I am not sure of the time frame of which you worked for us but we have been making changes based on employee feedback over the last couple years. To touch on some of them here are things we have done over the last year: * We have been working hard at hiring this year and we have bolstered staff levels on every shift to ensure stress levels remain low. * Better defining support policies and support best practices. * Moving our extensive support wiki to a best practices documentation database for exact answers to specific customer problems and remove all the dupe information. * Total training revamp started in January 2014 * Monthly issue tracking to pinpoint support trends Like all change, these have taken some time to get rolling, but they have already been making positive impacts on everyone's work here at WiredTree. I am sorry that you had such a negative experience with us. That is the last thing we want to have and I wish you would have brought up your feelings to us so we could have eased any of your frustrations. My door is always open to any of my coworkers to talk things out and I wished you would have taken the chance to do so. Regardless, thank you for your hard work and time here at WT. We wish you the best of luck wherever you work now and I hope that you find a job that makes you happy. Take care!
1.0
Aug 4, 2013

If you want to be overworked and have your spirit broken, work at WiredTree.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You will meet some super smart admins. A lot of big brains and big hearts. Only reason I can see why people stay.

Cons

I will begin with the fact that management likes to squeeze the most out of you. They know that the turnaround for admins at WiredTree is huge, so they will make you grind for 12+ hours straight. No one, and I do mean no one, lasts longer than 2 years. Once you hop a year, almost everyone will be new, except maybe 1 or 2 that has gotten promoted or moved around to replace someone else that has quit. Admins and developers, who know their worth, will walk within the first few weeks. They just can’t keep themselves fully staffed. I feel that the biggest reason why people walk has to be the lack of structure and team work. Management preaches team work, but they favor the admins who they buddy up with, and take advantage of the ones who don't know how to say no. WiredTree has some very smart admins and shift leads, and it is sad and insulting when you see a person that doesn't deserve it or leaches off of others to make themselves look good, get promoted. Every company has one, so in general, beware of these kinds of people, they will throw you under the bus for self-gain. I believe the one I encountered at WiredTree still works there, so I warn future admins, she will throw you under the bus to cover up the fact that she has little to no knowledge of Linux and scripting. I don't have to give names; you'll sniff out this person(s) once you start working there. Don't bother talking to management, because they will look the other way. As a matter of fact, they already have by promoting this person. Also, I don't know what they are talking about in regards to bonuses and free lunches. Yes you have endless access to energy drinks, but no free lunches and bonuses are only given when Zac (CEO) is in a good mood or doesn't forget. Months will go by without bonuses, and the system for rewarding people is a joke. Once you are on shift, make sure you have a big breakfast because expect to not eat for 12 hours. Managers take lunch early between 11-noon, eat in front of you, and don't bother to offer to take over your work so you can take a short break. They simply do not care. They have it set in their minds that it is up to you and the other 2 admins to figure it out, which means you will need to grind harder so one of you can run out and shove some food in your mouth. Noobs in training, developers and management, will take their lunch break in groups, while the 2 to 3 admins on shift just keep grinding for 12+ hours straight. There are just too many clients for 3 people to handle, yet if you fall a bit behind you will get verbally scolded. Some clients need extra attention, and there simply isn't the man power and time to help them all out 100%. In addition, you will get flack if you only hit a lesser amount of replies a day against others that might hit a 100+. The problem with that is some of the admins who have a lesser count, are sometimes the ones who pick up the harder work and put in more time to help fix the ACTUAL problem, yet that is never considered. It really sucks to come into work and pick up a ticket that has 40 replies because the admin before is off base, doesn't know what they were doing, or has been giving the customer the wrong solutions/answers over and over again. Going back to the lunch breaks, I can believe no has filed a complaint with IDHR. Admin work at WiredTree is no better than an assembly line, and trust me, after some time it will start to break you down. All this combined can even begin to break your spirit and mentally decapitate the notion that you can do better elsewhere. In regards to Zac, I wouldn't approve of him as a CEO. He has temper tantrums and flips like coin so often that the other managers are constantly apologizing for him. I have heard them say this out loud, as most things that should be private are said out load often at WiredTree. You can't verbally abuse an employee and expect for them not to quit or become a bit jaded. You don't treat another adult like they're less than you only because you own your own business. It's unprofessional and downright appalling. It was also mentioned that in a previous review that the bad reviews for this company are dissatisfied ex-employees who were fired. That is a false statement. I for one walked away and can honestly say that about 9 out of 10 employees at WiredTree walked away as well. Out of probably 15-20+ employees that I have seen go, only about 2-3 of them were fired. So take that to consideration when reading these reviews. I'm just warning you an advance. Also, notice that almost all of the good reviews here are employees who are still there. You don't really grasp how bad it is/was until you leave and you are treated fairly elsewhere. You leave so traumatized and burnt out, that at times, you can't grasp the concept being treated fairly at another company. But I guarantee, there is better places to work at than WIredTree. 40K is not worth it.Think about that. I could go on and on, but this should suffice for anyone who wants a REAL perspective on what it is to work for WiredTree.

1.0
Jul 27, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Industry experience, come into contact with several facets on varying technology, some nice workers there

Cons

12-15 hour shifts, lack of integrity, horrible management, very low pay when compared with the rest of the IT sector

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