CARFAX, Inc. Employee Review

Former Employee – worked at CARFAX, Inc. full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Smart and Friendly People - I was always given the tools and assistance that I needed to succeed as a Java developer. People were always willing to stop what they were doing to help answer my questions or work with me to solve a problem.

Pair Programming and XP - CARFAX has been called the "home of XP" by several agile software development experts. It was an amazing environment to work in. Focused, but not overbearing. Encouraging and fair, but not accepting of repeated failure. Once a problem is identified, everyone works to resolve it.

Internship Program - CARFAX has a great internship program that they use to cultivate potential employees. As a former intern turned successful developer, I can not speak highly enough of this program. The interns are placed on real teams and given real work to do almost immediately. The sink-or-swim factor is scary, but the teams are so great that you really have to try to fail.

Equal Voices - CARFAX is a relatively flat organization. Because of this, it is commonplace for a developer to have a candid conversation with a director or product manager. Everyone is focused on making the product and the company better. It is refreshing to be a part of an environment with such a high level of transparency.

Cons – Lack of Product Innovation - CARFAX has become great at turning data into usable information. Through this concept, they pioneered the Vehicle History Report and some derivative products. Over the years, they have collected billions of records of data. This data has a lot of potential outside of just the VHR, but certain forces within the company have hindered CARFAX's use of this data to build other informational products.

Non-Competitive Salaries - CARFAX cultivates some really talented people. At some point, however, the market reaches out to these people, and they realize that they have the potential to be making much more. As a result, some people leave after a time to explore more lucrative options. The opposite is also the case, however. Several developers have been so impressed by the environment at CARFAX that they have taken pay cuts in order to come work there.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep it up. While I was there, several people told me that this would be the best job that they'd ever have. Small, talented, focused teams. Minimize multitasking and maximize value. Prioritize.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend