Descartes Systems Reviews

Pros

It is just a job, better than having no job at all. If you are ambitious and expecting to make a difference by working hard, then this is not the place you should come. If you only want the paycheck or not capable to do anything, then you have very good chance to stay here for 5 or 10 or 15 years without being kicked out.

Cons

No raise, no bonus, no training and the only reward for your excellent work is the smily face from your manager.

Pros

The vacation package is 20 days after 4 years of employment, which is something unheard of. 7 sick days, 1 personal day, 7 holidays - extremly good. The company also have a great health insurance and 50% matching 401k. You might be able to work from home, at least some of the time, but that depends on your direct manager work philosophy.

Cons

Extremely low pay compare with the same position in the industry - somewhere in the lowest 5% of the normal curve. No respect for employees, no raises. They had the performance review last year, and salary review this year - long process, starting in mid-October. When there was finally a time for senior managment to actually come up with the numbers (middle of January) they not only ignored the schedule, they acted like there was not salary review and haven't even mentioned the issues in CEO webcast three month later.
The morale is extremly low since all the employees I know feel extremly disrespected. Six best developers already left, and the most of the rest is looking for a new job. Productivity is very poor, since there is no motivator - no raises, and a big demotivator - being treated like s..t by the senior managment.

Advice to Senior Management

You guys up there need to quit. There is total disconnect with you and the employess. If you want developers to work on McDonald salaries, open offices in China.

Pros

Typical public company
Each department to their own
Average standard pay and benefits
Standard benefits (health, dental, vision, Group RRSP)
Somewhat flexible hours and workload (job dependent)

Cons

No salary raise
No tight/loyal company culture
Everyone is a number, not a person
Entire company is not one team but many teams
Cheap on vacations, bonuses, training

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in people when the company is doing well

Pros

Good technologies, recognized in supply chain circles.

Cons

Work can be demanding, at times.

Advice to Senior Management

More training opportunities for employees.

Pros

It's a job, which is good in this time of slow economic growth. There is a good bit of autonomy (which is also a negative, which I will outline under Cons). Benefits are good. Co-workers are nice and I made a few good, lasting relationships. Smart product people (developers, engineers, and product managers).

Cons

The company had 5+ Sales and Marketing complete re-orgs since 2000 from what I understood via very reliable sources. For proof of this, I randomly met a friend of a friend who had worked both at Descartes in a similar role and at another company I was with. He was at Descartes 3 years earlier and echoed the feeling of it being a chaotic environment.

Descartes is a "product" organization and doesn't really, truly, deeply believe in the value of sales and marketing. There's a reason their revenue had been stagnant over the course of several years. I saw numerous middle management changes in 2 years, and of course very senior management people are never going to take a look in the mirror and ask "What's the common denominator here?"

As for middle management, I would have out-of-town bosses visit and spend less than 10 minutes with me before jetting off. I once went 3 weeks without speaking to anyone on my team. The CEO, Art, wouldn't even acknowledge that I existed when in the same room as him (and I'm a social person and made a concerted effort to make contact). Then one time, a senior VP publicly acknowledged the efforts of every person who contributed to a major S&M event- except for me. I worked my butt off and my efforts were recognized by all the others on my team except for him. Admittedly, I was laid off weeks later as the next-to-last from my "class" on the Sales and Marketing ferris wheel, so that may have been his way of avoiding eye contact. Still, a little humanity and thankfulness for making him look good would have been nice and respectful.

Just a terrible fit for me with atrocious upper management who have obviously sucked up to the Board to the point of not having to produce results or treat sales and marketing with respect for their abilities. Despite the doom and gloom, it was good work experience, it paid the bills, and I enjoyed my co-workers, and it's good to end on a positive note.

Advice to Senior Management

See above.

Pros

good people, diverse experience and products

Cons

too much work, not enough people

Advice to Senior Management

more resources

Pros

You get a pay check.
Free coffee
If you are lucky, it will be a short commute
any port in a storm (it's better than not job at all)

Cons

Company policy is at least 4 years between pay increases of near nothing.
Some managers will treat you with respect others lie to your face to manipulate you to work more.
Company stated policy is to squeeze "resources" you like a lemons

Advice to Senior Management

At least try to show some appreciation for the people making the company run. AND actually know what your managers are doing, some manage people like personal servants but not in front of you.

Pros

The people working there are great and work well together, even under the extreme amounts of stress and expected extra working hours.
You can be open about looking for another job, because everyone working there is!

Cons

No work life balance. Management/Executives suggest how life should be, but do not follow through making employees work long hours, including weekends without any extra compensation. No raises for a number of employees for years, however the CEO het a 119% salary increase?
Always working under cutbacks, refusal to purchase badly needed IT infrastructure due to lack of cash flow. Goal is to bandage everything and spend no money.
They would rather expect an employee to work 24/7/365 to keep stuff working manually than pay to fix it properly, and don't expect a bonus, a raise, or even a thank you for doing this extra work.
Staff is underpaid and over worked.

Advice to Senior Management

Start treating your employees with respect. Start spending some money to make things better. The IT infrastructure is sadly underfunded.