Bazaarvoice Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Bazaarvoice

Pros – Younger, hungry workforce
No vacation time limit
Occasional free meals
You'll always be busy
Some great leaders on the management and upper echelons of company

Cons – Lack of structure due to youth of company
Some favoritism given to significant others working there
You'll work more hours than normal in austin, esp if in engineering/implementation team
No one takes vacation much due to pressure to work hard

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – The people are great, the culture is fun, I feel challenged and inspired to make great work. The leadership has a compelling vision to make this company continue to thrive.

Cons – It can change quickly which can be difficult at times. Sometimes there is not sufficient communication around big organizational changes.

Advice to Senior Management – While moving quickly is important, it is equally important to keep those impacted by change informed. As it continues to grow, this becomes even more important.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – Senior leadership is very supportive of the UX team, and at Bazaarvoice, the UX process is an integral part of product discovery and development. Sadly, this is not true at a lot of other companies where UX is underutilized or ignored.

Cons – UXDs are held to very high standards. There is no entry-level role or hand-holding. This is fantastic for the leader-types who would prefer to manage themselves, but painful for designers who are accustomed to receiving assignments.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Bazaarvoice

Pros – The best reason to work at Bazaarvoice is the people. You will get to work with some of the most talented people in any industry. The work is challenging and the hours are very demanding but time seems to fly by when you work with cool people.

Cons – As is often the case entrepreneurs are great at coming up with ideas but ideas alone cannot sustain and build a great company. The senior management team seems to be so focused on spinning the culture to the masses that they often forget that they have a business to run. Unfortunately many of the departments within the company would be better served if their respective "leaders" step down. As an employee you are encouraged to read the book Fierce Conversations. It’s a great book but don't try having a fierce conversation at Bazaarvoice, unless of course you have another job already lined up.

Advice to Senior Management – My advice is directed to the investors and the various VC companies who have millions at stake in Bazaarvoice. There are a lot of great things happening at Bazaarvoice and there are a lot of amazing people putting their heart and soul into the company and its products. If you want the return on your investment you deserve, pay very close attention to the senior management. The adage "Trust but verify" could never be more appropriate.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – Great culture that is being maintained as the company grows.

Cons – The work life balance can be challenging to manage.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – Extremely smart and motivated people. The Bazaarvoice mission is to bring authentic user generated content to online commerce. It's a mission that is easy to believe in and very well respected in the industry. BV is the leader in the space by a long shot.

Cons – Because BV has grown so fast, it's still trying to solidify processes which is both a good and a bad thing. However, It's great to not have too much process.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep doing an amazing job and don't let the BV culture slip away as the company grows into bigger shoes.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Bazaarvoice

Pros – free snacks, casual dress, unlimited vacation, can work from home, nice office, smart people.

Cons – Long hours. Moderate pay. Fierce conversations are a myth. Warning - if you speak your mind, you're black-balled by the executive leadership team. Communication among leadership is weak. Goals are unrealistic. Errors are not forgiven nor forgotten.

Advice to Senior Management – The worker bees are what make you successful. Do not take them for granted. Show appreciation for their hard work. Do not sway your staff in voting that you are the best place to work in Austin because you're not. Your egos are so inflated that it will hurt you in the end. You will regret that you lost sight of your ethics. Management decisions in marketing, recruiting, and sales are questionable (in ethics and judgement). You are burning people out. There is only one reason why people are staying and it has nothing to do with your leadership or your product. Be true to your notion of 'fierce conversations' -- Don't fire people just because they don't tell you what you want to hear.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – Casual culture, good benefits, CEO is a great guy who sincerely believes in his company and does a lot for the community and his company.

Cons – Incompetent management- they promote anyone who is "good" at their job to management without thinking "does this person have solid people management skills?" or "does this person have management training/ ever managed people before?" I have seen many good people fired for petty things or leave the company because of terrible/ ineffective management.
No work life balance- I have been working here for a long time. I keep thinking this will get better, but it never does.
Inefficient processes lead to too much ambiguity and nebulous, half baked resolutions
Building is overcrowded, yet company is reluctant to let people work from home

Advice to Senior Management – Require management experience or training before promoting people to management positions. Invest in hiring people from within to create better efficiencies.
Let people work from home/ become remote employees! This will solve your building space issues. If you are worried about people not getting their work done, the interviewing process ensures over achievers and there is too much work to goof off!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – Great for stay at home parents, 2nd job, retirees
Great pay ($10 - $16/hr)
Variety
Independence, freedom from workplace negatives
Nice people

Cons – This job isn't for you if you thrive on interaction with your colleagues and feedback from your superiors. Reading reviews can get tedious. Compensation plan (completely based on failures determined by other employees) needs to be a better system.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bazaarvoice

Pros – By far the best reason to work at Bazaarvoice is the people. Individuals are, for the most part, authentic and energized about their work and the company. It's amazing to know we as an organization are changing the landscape of commerce and marketing as we know it. Also the support from my team in both my professional and person life is overwhelming.

Cons – The pace is crazy. As with most high growth companies, change is constant and there is a great deal of ambiguity.

Advice to Senior Management – Help your team(s) see the forrest for the trees and help to create/define career paths in the organization. Just because the company is growing doesn't mean everyone can visualize their path or understand the impact they are having in their current roles.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend