Apcon Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Apcon full-time for less than a year

Pros – Amazing group of people, extremely friendly, team oriented, and focused. I was warmly welcomed when I joined, and everyone is heads down, jamming out getting their work done.

Don't let other negative reviews dissuade you from applying. Ex-employees tend to rant/vent. However, embrace the commented traits of APCON leadership as admirable traits for a founder of a company with a 20 year history! APCON survived the downturn of 2001 and 2008. The CEO clearly cares about his people.

I have already been in touch with two associates and asked them to apply as well. Coming from a Fortune 500 company to APCON is the best turn of events my life has taken.

Cons – Not enough open reqs to rescue my former colleagues and bring them to APCON, which is a very work/personal life focused company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Apcon full-time

Pros – Had several phone interviews (4 people) and then a face- to face interview in Portland, Interview went well which involved several people talking to asking questions about what you have done and a written test in C mostly low level programming.

Cons – I got a good feedback from HR after the phone interviews and I was asked to fly to Portland. I had to spend money out of my pocket for the trip and it was expensive. I didn't get any offer from the company and wasted my money in hard times. This is a small company and not sure if they have a good road map.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Apcon full-time for more than a year

Pros – Fast paced, good product, great momentum, management helpful at first....

Cons – Micromanagement at sales level- even if you are ahead of target. God forbid you lose a sale that you spoke about.

Advice to Senior Management – STop scapegoating sales people for every bad thing. Management needs to look internally as to why they don't/can't keep commitments. Mr. Rauch has everyone in fear of their jobs. Outsode people get blamed for everything..

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Apcon full-time for more than a year

Pros – Some really good people doing their best - unfortunately money vs. integrity is the sorting device for most hired. The product is a strong design and has a good market, the internal production line and team is committed to doing their best.

Workout center and showers - nice additions

Cons – Owner - very unique and has an agendy that is based on appearance vs performance. Any show of now conformity will eventually lead to disfavor and eventual departure (which isn't always a bad thing - like being released from prison :}

Advice to Senior Management – Think about developing a character and integrity based decision making process - versed one of compliance and manipulation.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Apcon full-time for more than a year

Pros – Small company, interaction with all departments, intelligent people, growing product line. People get to know each other. Some great skills and experience here.

Cons – One point of decision-making, but reasonable and focused on making the business profitable. And that pays regular bonuses!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Apcon

Pros – I like the small company, small team,challenge, and fast paced environment. I look forward to work every day which was not the case at previous employers. I have a say in my projects and I am very pleased with the projects I have worked on over the years. I have learned more here than at any other employer and worked on stuff I have never seen before. My work hours are very good, I have time off and I work within a great team. My reviews have been very good. I am verbally and financially rewarded for my work. There have been lots of improvements over the last year or more. The bonuses are very generous, the benefits were greatly improved, we have a formal review process now, many things have changed for the better and are changing still. The growth is great and it is very exciting to be a part of a growing company.

Cons – Lacking an engineering manager.. The CEO is a very smart guy, but there is too much going on for him to manage alone. The environment is challenging, but good.

Advice to Senior Management – A better PTO plan would be good.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Apcon

Pros – The company has been growing very rapidly and added highly competent and professional staff that range from the director level to production line personnel. There is a continual flow of new products being developed and released for both Hardware and Software. The old culture is being/has been supplanted with a more structured environment with latitude to do what needs to be done to get results. If you are competent, develop strategies and plans, and execute you will be rewarded – results are expected (like any firm worth its salt). The company has been evolving rapidly but has a good atmosphere and one of the best work life balances that I’ve ever experienced in any of the many companies I’ve worked. Every day I get to do new things and improve the company and when I leave I feel I’ve made a difference. The people I work with are delighted to be part of this team and are consistently advocating Apcon as a destination employer.

Cons – The constant barrage of negative comments I read here, posted by bitter and incompetent mangers/directors that got canned for not getting results. Yes Apcon is a smaller company and if you don’t produce there is no one to hide behind: and your held accountable (a novel concept for some). I’ve never worked for Presidents and Vice President who didn’t have the same expectations! The goal of a company is to make money for the stockholders (be that one or many), by shipping product on schedule with the required features. It’s the job of the directors/managers to put the plan in place to make it happen on schedule, and if they can’t they need to highlight and communicate the risks and resources necessary to hit the target to get the results. Blaming the President for your failure to produce and hit schedules as expected shows the true character of those who have vented here.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up-leveling the team and doing what you’re doing.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Apcon

Pros – The technology is interesting, and has a good market ahead of it. There used to be an outstanding team of people to work with. If you can get on the CEO's good side, you'll do well for a while.

Cons – It's nigh impossible to get on the CEO's good side, and the slide from CEO Likes You to You're The Enemy is pretty quick, and fairly predictable.

In general, the employees are treated like they aren't worth their salaries. There was such an amazing concentration of talent at APCON at one point, but it was squandered away very quickly. Most of engineering has been turned over in the last two years. I don't see how APCON will be able to keep up with their field for long.

Advice to Senior Management – There really isn't much to say here that wasn't said in previous posts. There are ways to fix APCON's management, but it won't be done. It appears that the route they're taking to address the difficult hiring problems that APCON faces in Portland is to open an engineering group in Texas.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Apcon

Pros – At times, it can be interesting technology to work with. Heck, you get to play around with microcontrollers and LASERS! Your fellow "grunt level" employees are usually nice, knowledgeable, and (at one time was) a close-knit team.

Cons – There are constantly conflicting product designs from marketing and the CEO, although the CEO changes his mind every few days, so occasionally his thoughts align with the marketing designs for a brief time. On any given day, it is unclear which design is the correct design to follow -- which can be a problem, considering the "designs" mainly consist of UI and often need weeks worth of separate "plumbing" in place for each/either UI.

For a while, there was an "Engineering Manager" who seemingly had no power. Engineers were told to report directly to the CEO, completely circumventing this guy's authority. It was almost as if the manager was there only to fill a box on the org chart and to schedule useless daily "yes sir" meetings.

The CEO does not trust the employees. As such, the employees learn to not trust the CEO. But he takes Thursdays off, so that can be your day to either get some real, uninterrupted work done or to goof off or to schedule job interviews (all depending on your level of trust in the company.)

Burnout and turnover are real problems.

Advice to Senior Management – A competent engineering manager who is more than a mouthpiece is required. A product manager (who has actual power, responsibility, trust, and authority) is required.

I don't know for certain, but I was led to believe that the CEO/owner hasn't worked as an employee of a modern tech company (obviously, besides Apcon), so may not have the complete skillset or relevant life-experience for maintaining and growing a company of Apcon's current size (it effectively grew from being a "garage" startup company). He may have to be content with being the owner and big picture guy and might be better off by bringing in folks for the day-to-day management and product/UI design.

The trust thing desperately needs a solution, but I have no ready solution to offer. Maybe a good day-to-day CEO-level person could help repair that?

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Apcon

Pros – The technology is moderately interesting and most of the people are fun to work with.
The market is red hot and looks to be so for quite a while.
The main working hours are 8 to 5:30 and many people do not have to put in extra time.

Cons – It is a very oppressive atmosphere in which to work. The company culture does not value the individual. You will be in fear of losing your job on a daily basis. Management does not know how to manage projects or motivate people, nor do they care to learn. Specs are not even half-baked and change before you have had a chance to provide feedback (which is not welcomed). You will not be motivated or recognized for quality work. Weekly changes in direction and a constant short term focus on the next customer (many times to prevent losing said customer) means that getting the next release out in a panic is the only focus. Quality and consistency are sacrificed every step of the way. Very little thought is put into long-term product planning or career development. Product development is all about the top few managers calling all the shots whether the are competent or not (and they are not).

Advice to Senior Management – I have no advice because Senior Management is at the core of the problem. They just don't get it and I don't see how they ever will. Apcon will never be a fun and quality place to work until most of the Senior Management turns over. It's no wonder that the turnover is so high. They are having a very difficult time hiring and retaining talent, and this in a town flooded with great talent and high unemployment. Pay attention to the other less than positive reviews (they are spot on). I'm hard pressed to understand how a positive review slipped in here. Think of Apcon as a stepping stone from unemployment to the job you really want!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend