Not a Career Launchpad, More Like a Career Detour to Work Here.
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
I used to say, that it can hardly get any worse, but each time I said that, the management has surprised me once again. Maybe workers council, that would be all.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Here is a summary of all above: The leadership in the IT department lacked basic technical understanding. There was also no clear separation of duties. One day you’d handle your own tasks, and the next you’d be asked to take other responsibilities, or even manage tasks that belonged to other team. This constant shifting of duties creates confusion and frustration. Personally, my direct line manager never defended or protected me; in fact, he encouraged me to take on all of these additional tasks without any appreciation. The lack of clear job requirements in tickets made work difficult, and this was a direct result of the fact that nobody in IT truly understood IT. Tasks and projects often came without a proper handover. You might suddenly find a project on your desk because someone left the company, and management didn't bother to find the right person to take it on.
I was hired by people who proudly claimed Steve Jobs' famous quote "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do". Unfortunately, their actions consistently contradicted that. Instead of trusting expertise, they ignored input, making it clear that the slogan was just for show.
This is not an environment where hard work is recognized or where you can grow professionally. Leadership is unqualified, disorganized, and unappreciative, and the culture suffers as a result. The lack of structure and poor management made it difficult to do the job properly, leading to frustration and burnout.
And one final word: Most of these complaints were already raised to HR and mostly ignored by them. HR in this company has always been on the managers side and, if they comment under this review and ask for a direct feedback, this is far from credible.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
The parent company should throw a hand and fire all the managers in IT. The management positions should be then filled (1) with the knowledgeable and qualified employees, who are working for the company since years, and therefore aware of problems, (2) with the qualified managers who has IT mindset and vision.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
The work environment was chaotic and lacked structure. Tasks and responsibilities were constantly shifting with no clear separation of duties, leading to confusion. There was little to no handover of projects, and you’d often find yourself taking on tasks outside your role, sometimes without any training or support. Management's lack of technical understanding and poor organization made it difficult to succeed or feel valued. The lack of appreciation and the overall disorganization contributed to a stressful and unproductive atmosphere. Here is a concrete example: An employee did overtime during troubleshooting, a manager came and without saying any thanks, asked him directly to start working earlier than usual to continue working on the issue, which was also completely against the German Working Hours Act. Finally, finger pointing culture.
Image
The company had a low public visibility. Most people outside had never even heard of it. After undergoing a rebranding process and changing its name, the new name remained just as unknown. I always had to say people its former name and make explanation about it.
Work-Life-Balance
You'll be expected to do overtime and will get paid for overtime -if it's in your contract-, that's the reason of 2 stars instead of one. However do not expect any protection or support from your direct line manager when you were overloaded with additional tasks, contributing to burnout and a poor work-life balance. Plus, with no separation of duties and tasks constantly being added to your plate, it seems like the workload was unpredictable and unmanageable, impacting your personal time.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
Practically nonexistent, unless you personally know someone from management. Professional development was not supported in any meaningful way. Unqualified individuals with no relevant experience were promoted due to favoritism, hardworking employees stood in their position forever. Apart from that, newly created manager positions were also filled by hiring new people, instead of promoting existing employees to that positions. Simply unqualified managers fill leading positions with unqualified people, like a chicken egg problem.
About trainings: Couple years ago, the company had at least a Coursera subscription, which is also cancelled all of sudden because just a single manager wanted to have it so. There were some other trainings from vendors in 2022, but nothing since then.
Gehalt/Benefits
Salaries were just okay, but absolutely not fair considering the circumstances, mobbing and workload. As mentioned above, you'll also paid separately for overtime and also get vouchers for lunch. However this is also subject to change very soon, because the last salary increase in 2025 was minimal, if not nonexistent, which was incredibly demotivating considering the overall work conditions.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
No idea, if the company has any concerns about environment and social awareness, as clear communication between the employees and management was always missing and complained by the employees many times. And it's also ignored by the HR and management that many times, too.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
Well, colleague solidarity was one of the few positive aspects, because all employees were treated with the same lack of respect by leadership. Having that said, there was a newly established workers' council. If they could fix these things or not, is still an open question, as IT isn't represented at workers council unfortunately.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
The above applies here as well. No matter how old are you, you'll be threaten with same disrespect.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Already mentioned above: Superiors lack leadership and technical understanding, leading to unrealistic expectations. Career advancement promises were unfulfilled, and favoritism prevailed in promotions. The workers' council also acknowledged the poor leadership.
I also felt manipulated on numerous occasions by my direct line manager, micromanaged many times, who also showed up late constantly to our meetings (both personal and team) or cancelled them in the last minute.
Arbeitsbedingungen
For the tasks day in, day out, the company laptop was decent and suitable. This is maybe one single positive note about that. On the other hand, the infrastructure itself was simply outdated.
Kommunikation
Communication within the company was lacking transparency. There was no clear understanding of company goals or progress, making it difficult for employees to align with the broader vision. Not sure even the management level had a vision about company goals, or not. All decisions made by managers behind the closed door with no real reasoning.
Gleichberechtigung
Well, all employees were treated with the same lack of respect by leadership. So, there was at least equality on that.
Interessante Aufgaben
None at all. Employees were often stuck handling the same repetitive tasks. The company still relies on outdated technologies that had already reached their end-of-life, limiting opportunities for growth or skill development. If you do not want to mention during your next job interview, that you worked with technologies that could probably end up in the German Museum of Technology, keep away from this company. That's why, I'd like to emphasize again, what I wrote in title: "Definitely Career Detour".