HighJump Reviews

Pros

Was fun until I wanted to travel less. Then I became stuck in a job with no advancement opportunities. Many cliques.

Cons

No advancement opportunities, no management support, manager would talk in circles for hours with no decisions.

Pros

I loved my job profile and the opportunity to go meet different clients - which expanded my horizons and my domain knowledge quite a bit.

Cons

Travel can get crazy and the constant pressure to keep the billing percentile can sometimes make people do things that they wouldn't do otherwise.

Advice to Senior Management

Good luck in your decisions and the goals that you are pursuing - sometimes a radical change can be good but you do lose some quality people.

Pros

Co-workers within my department worked well to ship out product, and when I needed help they were always willing to be there.

Cons

Projects were not sold properly by account reps. It was basically an open SOW for most projects. Promise everything for the customer, instead of under promise and over deliver. Once a Server Specialist is on the ground at a customer site getting support from most developers including seniors was very difficult. The service desk would email you examples on how to resolve instead of working with you on an issue. It also seemed like high school in some respects between hr and the marketing folks.. It was also funny when 3m would come down from their palace to tell everyone you're doing a great job - oh and who are you again.....

Advice to Senior Management

Do not over promise everything to customers, to get the deal done.

Pros

None, currently. While the computer used to be an exciting place to work, recent lay-offs and a change in business strategy have put many employees in constant angst over the long term existence of their careers there.

Cons

Recently purchased by Battery Ventures, HighJump has changed its very reason for being, turning suddenly from a business that aimed for a complete supply-chain entry into enterprise applications, the company is now doing nearly no in-house development and is instead purchasing other companies with a goal of then selling the company in a few years again for a profit.

Many talented developers are suddenly turned into technical support roles as there is almost no budget for "organic growth", that is, new software development, or addition of new features.

Advice to Senior Management

Balance your desire to add value to a company as an acquisition with the reality that you are dealing with real people who put the best of their pride into the very product you found valuable. There are certainly ways to increase the value, and much of it can be through acquisitions, but you purchased a company with talented staff in several offices who were part of the existing value, and they could have been enlisted to help you achieve your objectives by adding value through organic growth, while also integrating with new company acquisitions. It may have resulted in later returns, but it would also have resulted in a better product than what you will have.