Great team, promising product, startup growing pains
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
The team and the product
Verbesserungsvorschläge
More benefits.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
The office is nicely located in the heart of the 7th district, not far from the U3 station Zieglergasse, with many options for food and more.
However, the office itself could use a bit more natural light, or at least be furnished in a more welcoming way. For example, with more colour and fresher furniture. The cleaning intervals could also be increased, as it can get a bit messy at times, though not to an extent that personally bothered me.
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Visplore is highly customer-oriented. Especially the customer success team puts in genuine effort to ensure customers derive real value, maintaining a strong pace in implementing requested features and addressing bugs by the Developers. However, the software itself could benefit from a broader UX/UI redesign. Regarding professionalism, I feel that improvements in meeting punctuality and avoiding interrupting colleagues during customer presentations would significantly strengthen the company's external image
Work-Life-Balance
There is a set core working hours policy of a few hours, though this can be adjusted by communicating with management. Beyond that, the work-life balance is great. You are trusted to manage your own time, and as long as you deliver good work, I think the flexibility is yours. Home office is also an option.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
Within the Customer Success team, career progression was not clearly defined. More senior colleagues often held the same position, which made it difficult to envision a concrete path for growth. As a startup, opportunities are naturally somewhat limited in this regard.
Training and personal development opportunities were not proactively communicated, although I believe management would have been open to discussing them if raised.
Given the company’s reliance on external investment - especially in the current economic climate - job security can feel somewhat uncertain.
On the positive side, working in a startup environment provides the opportunity to shape processes and contribute ideas, as many structures are still being built.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
As mentioned, colleagues are always willing to help and answer questions. Company events help strengthen the bond between team members outside of work, and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with everyone and the company events are great.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Generally, communication with management is open and constructive, though it can be quite direct at times. Another aspect I did not appreciate was management's tendency to micromanage unnecessary aspects of my work, which at times undermined my confidence in my own abilities. That said, management is receptive to feedback, and in my case this led to noticeable improvements. Some colleagues seemed to find the communication style more challenging. Personally, this was not the biggest issue for me.
Arbeitsbedingungen
As mentioned, the office could benefit from a bit more life, some small investments in furnishings and atmosphere could go a long way. It can get messy at times, though nothing extreme. The noise level is generally fine, however meeting rooms can be overbooked, and occasionally colleagues would occupy them despite an existing booking, sometimes causing to arrive late to customer meetings, which I found quite inappropriate. Providing employees with noise-cancelling headsets could help mitigate sound bleed from simultaneous meetings in the same room, especially given the overbooking issue.
Kommunikation
Communication within the colleagues is excellent. Colleagues are always open to helping and answering questions whenever needed. When it comes to personal matters, superiors are approachable and willing to listen if you reach out, and the same goes for HR, who are genuinely open to feedback. However, management communication can come across as a little direct at times, which is likely a result of the fast paced startup environment.
Gehalt/Benefits
For early-career engineers in this sector, the compensation was reasonable given that Vienna is not a high-salary region and the company is a startup. That said, depending on your background and experience, you will likely find more competitive packages at bigger companies. Management was open discussing salary increases but you won't be making banks here, especially considering how Vienna became quite expensive in the recent years. Given that it is a startup, offering stock options would have been a welcome addition. There were no formal additional benefits such as meal vouchers, a subsidized Wiener Linien ticket, or gym discounts. In my case, goals were set twice a year tied to a bonus scheme a nice addition when it comes through. However, the success of the targets were not always within one's own control, and given that any bonus will largely be absorbed by taxes, the net impact remains very modest. On a smaller note, 1-2 times a week colleagues would cook tasty dishes in the office with ingredients covered by the company, and there was also a weekly fruit basket and free Nespresso capsules coffee available. Also free beers and booze for the company events.
Gleichberechtigung
The company is very international, and despite being a software company, I had the impression it has a notably high proportion of female colleagues. While I cannot speak to whether pay is equal across the board, the overall culture felt modern and progressive in this regard.
Interessante Aufgaben
I experienced a steep learning curve early on and learned a lot. However, the role's activities did not align closely with my long-term personal interests. A considerable amount of time was spent chasing customers due to micromanagement to generate value for them, rather than working on more substantial real-world challenges. This imbalance made it difficult to find deeper professional fulfillment in the role, especially as someone with an industrial and mechanical engineering background who is more drawn to hands-on work with customers. That said, some customer engagements did involve genuinely impactful use cases, which was personally rewarding. I believe Visplore is a great product, but the approach to generating value from its licensing could highly benefit from being reconsidered.