Blackboard Reviews

Pros

Bb has been a pleasure to work at for several reasons. First of all there is a versatile group of people with amazing amounts of knowledge and many of them are more than willing to share it. Second, the benefits, though a bit pricey, are more than adequate. Finally, managers tend to provide recognition for a job well done.

Cons

Sometimes it seems that there are too many layers which interferes with decisions getting made and action being taken.

Advice to Senior Management

To empower their lower managers so that they can do more with the departments that they know so well.

Pros

Great flexibility in work schedule; creative minds. People work well together and are tolerant.

Cons

No determined culture; decisions are made with sales in mind and not long-term software sustainability.

Advice to Senior Management

I don't have any advice for them.

Pros

There are interesting problems to be solved, and some pretty smart and motivated people to do it with. We were equipped with very nice workstations and a great lab to get our work done. We were provided with any tool we needed, and there were good opportunities for travel.

Cons

The building was terrible when I was there, but they have since moved to nicer digs. One terrible thing was the MEETINGS. There were meetings ALL DAY LONG, many of which were useless and could have been achieved via an email of status updates. There was also this odd emphasis on making everyone in the department a director.

Advice to Senior Management

I would advise them to make people earn their promotions, and limit the analysis paralysis.

Pros

Fast-paced environment, filled with very smart people working on the cutting edge of educational software development. Very supportive climate for flexible scheduling and telecommuting. I am always aware of the company's goals and the department's goals so it's easy to align priorities. Brand new corporate headquarters has lots of room to grow the company. Lots of opportunities to get involved with creative side projects and work across teams in development.

Cons

Poor handling of company's reputation in the Higher Ed market. The corporate website is really ugly and not user friendly. It's difficult to find information internally and externally. Sometimes we get bogged down in process development.

Advice to Senior Management

Drop the law suit stuff and move on

Pros

Working in education means you're a part of the "solution". It's a "Work Hard/Play Hard" environment, fun people, freedom to explore options.

Cons

Hey, it's in Downtown Washington, DC... a lot of people around here are more concerned with maintaining personal status than finding out the best course of action. If you work here and need to talk to HR... forget it! It's just not worth the headache, I'd rather pay the "X" than deal with HR in fixing it. They don't really try to help anyone but themselves keep their asses out of the fire.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep on doing what you're doing.

Pros

The senior management is terrible, but the rank and file are generally good people. The social atmosphere is nice, and people generally get along. I've made some good friends here.

Cons

Blackboard frequently makes claims to customers that are shaky, and provides shoddy support. Anyone else in a customer-facing role will have to overcome this obstacle. Blackboard is also extremely DC-focused and keeps remote and international employees out of the loop. HR never gets back to you.

Advice to Senior Management

I've heard Blackboard's tagline, "Educate, Innovate, Everywhere" rewritten as "Innovate, Stagnate, Litigate." Blackboard has no interest in the education field or its customers; rather, it's obvious that Blackboard is only interested in extracting as much money from universities and colleges as possible, for as little effort as possible. This has to change.