Startup mentality gone on for too long. A bunch of nerds got together, started something cool, but refuse to improve.
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
There are some very talented and unique personalities working at the company whom I learned a lot from.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
"Shadow management" overruling Holacracy, the salary system, and the unprofessional attitude of some
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Stop pretending you are still a small software company consisting solely of best friends. You are constantly growing, and you need to make sure to behave accordingly. This means more professionalism, especially regarding the communication, more structure and more realistic salaries.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
This one is a hit or miss, depending on who you get to work together with. As there is no management, there is a clear lack of extrinsic motivation for the employees to be polite with each other. Mobbing and insulting can be seen on a daily basis, and HR is powerless against it, because everyone is self-managed. Fortunately the majority of the people are a pleasure to work together with, but the work culture is definitely not all roses.
Kommunikation
More often than not too lax and improper, both internally and externally.
I could write a book full of my personal anecdotes, but just to name a few things that bothered me the most:
1. The clients are paying good money for your services and they should be able to expect a certain level of professionalism. I felt extremely embarrassed to be associated with Liip whenever I had colleagues insult each other or even clients in meetings.
2. Feedback is scarce by default (once, maybe a couple times a year), and most of the time it is less about constructive feedback, and more of an instrument to haggle a salary raise. I had other employees asking to exchange good feedbacks on several occasions.
3. Translations are subpar. You have native employees in many different languages, please at the very least ask them to proof-read whatever you publish if you refuse to consult a translation agency.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
As long as you are beneficial to them, people will treat you nicely.
You changed teams? You had no paid work for a couple weeks?
Consider yourself fortunate if you even get a hi in the mornings.
Work-Life-Balance
There is a constant pressure to get more work done than your peers, disregarding any other factors.
Even right after a surgery, you are compared to the workaholic person from the other team doing crazy hours every day, and you are expected to do the same, with the reasoning that others are doing it too.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Holacracy is a form of meritocracy, meaning that the roles are decoupled from your job title. This means that in theory anyone could fulfil any role. On paper this is an exciting opportunity for each and every employee, in reality it means that someone without any proper training in leadership or communication could end up in a role you have to confide in. This resulted my sensitive information getting leaked two times without my consent.
Other than that, decisions are taken seemingly at random, and there is a lack of transparency with many uncomfortable discussions taking place behind the scenes.
Interessante Aufgaben
Interesting projects are constantly fought over, with many people straight on refusing to work on legacy and/or less interesting projects. If you do apply at Liip, make sure to ask as many details about the project you would be working on, as it is a common practice to hire people to take care of projects abandoned by everyone else.
Gleichberechtigung
I do feel like Liip deserves five stars, but in my humble opinion Liip went too far to achieve it. When I saw people getting angry over others refering the coffee machine by it's female model name or when we were advised to use the word craftswomanship over craftsmanship I was left speechless. It felt like some people were constantly on the lookout for artificial problems to solve.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
If you happen to be an OG and do get hired - and that's a big if - rest assured, you will be treated the same as everyone else.
Arbeitsbedingungen
Everyone is the same, so everyone gets the same budget for computers and work related tools. Depending on your projects you will need a powerful machine as a developer, but you will still be limited to entry to medium level consumer laptops, unless you bring your own.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
Lights and heating are controlled by IoT devices, since employees tend to forget turning them off and closing the windows when leaving the rooms. This pretty much sums up the environmental awareness of the company.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
Once again, since everyone is the same, compensation is decoupled from the real world job market. Depending on your job title and skillset and even location, you will be over or underpaid. Employees are occasionally allowed to buy company shares, if you get the opportunity buy as many as you can. This is the easiest way to boost your income during your stay at Liip.
Many long time employees don't work fulltime in this company, they usually have side hustles to earn real money, and work a couple days at Liip mostly for fun.
Image
Liip is widely known and is highly regarded by many when it comes to technical know-how.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
You do get opportunites and financial assistance to improve and learn, but there won't be a mentor guiding you or telling what to do, so be prepared to organize and figure out things by yourself.