Appian Employee Reviews about "professional services"
75% would recommend to a friend
(6 total reviews)
Matt Calkins
78% approve of CEO
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "Rapid growth in number of employees also comes with challenges but management is aware of this and does their best to ensure the growth does not impact quality and company values." (in 17 reviews)
- "Manager will have 1 on 1 with you every other week but it’s useless they just want to get rid of the people who are genuinely trying to fit it... all they care about is the people who are quick learners" (in 10 reviews)
- "They force you to master their product within a rigorous 2 week training program and if you don’t pass, you’ll get fired on the spot." (in 6 reviews)
- "Feels almost like brainwashing, considering they dropped people like taking out the trash during layoffs (a simple search of Appian layoffs shows what employees really think when not afraid to voice their opinion and how the situation was handled) and yet everyone was still expected to give 110%." (in 6 reviews)
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Found 6 of over 581 reviews
Updated Nov 29, 2023
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Reviews about "professional services"
Return to all Reviews- 2.0Nov 23, 2018Solution EngineerFormer Employee, more than 1 year
Pros
As a software engineer, Appian is a great place to work - lots of incentives and rewards, a great deal of recognition, and while the growth is crazy they're making a huge effort to offset growing too fast for their own good.
Cons
Departments outside of Software Engineering (Support is what I worked most closely with, but also Professional Services and Sales) are toxic and aren't matching the demand that customers have (PS usually has way too many people, Support with way too few). The departments end up blaming and arguing with each other, really taking away from the culture Appian is trying to foster.
11 - 3.0Apr 14, 2019ConsultantCurrent Employee, more than 3 years
Pros
- In Professional Services, your experience and opportunities will be dependent on the projects you're staffed on (maybe this is a con?) - The people here are great - if you're on a team with Appian employees, you'll have a great experience. If you're on a project with partners / by yourself, you'll feel isolated - Even junior staff gets to take on large responsibilities - Occasional bench time to relax after intense projects is nice - Remote work is generally acceptable; very flexible of personal obligations
Cons
- Remote employees (even at satellite offices) often feel undervalued vs those at HQ - PS structure is beginning to turn bureaucratic, not as "flat" as it was a few years ago - Career path and expectations are ambiguous - Clear and actionable feedback is hard to come by
3
Appian Response5yThank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. As we continue to expand the organization, we are committed to finding ways to continuously improve. Thus, we greatly appreciate your candor. Over the past year, we have invested in clarifying professional services career paths and promotion expectations based on feedback like yours. We want all of our employees here at Appian, whether at HQ, remote offices, or home offices, to feel valued. We are sorry to hear that you have heard or felt otherwise in this case due to work location. I welcome a conversation with you, if you are willing, to better understand how we can improve on this matter.
- 5.0Jun 14, 2015Associate ConsultantCurrent Employee, less than 1 yearReston, VA
Pros
Appian is an awesome, youthful company that offers a lot of opportunity for growth especially for recent graduates. Associate consultants are given a lot of responsibility developing client applications, and they can quickly participate on the client side with production support and requirements gathering. The people working here are definitely motivated and intelligent, and the company overall has a play-hard, work-hard culture. There is plenty of growth, so a good amount of upwards mobility, and a wide range of client projects to work on. I'm definitely grateful that I've had such a good experience right out of college.
Cons
-Their benefits are mediocre compared to some of the competitors (Deloitte, Accenture, etc.) -Turnover is relatively high in professional services, which can occasionally affect project morale
5Appian Response9yThanks for taking the time out to share your experiences and your recommendation of Appian! I encourage you to send your benefits suggestions to Debbie or me directly -- we're always enhancing them. The new Appian MBA Program is just one recent example of how we are focused on retaining talent. While the PS turnover rate did tick up slightly to 7.3%, I have personally met with the project team you mentioned to help address their concerns. We take every departure seriously and treat them as an opportunity to improve our hiring, training, and the entire Appian experience.
- 1.0Nov 5, 2018Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee
Pros
Good holiday party and Appian retreat.
Cons
As others have pointed, the PTO policy isn't generous, especially compared to other tech or consulting companies in the area. I was attracted to Appian for it's culture. 'Best idea wins', right? Not quite. I found the culture in PS to be toxic, compared to the rest of the company. In my tenure, many people actively transferred out of PS. I can't think of anyone that actually transferred in or boomeranged back. There's an obvious disconnect. People do seem genuinely happier in Engineering so if that's your department, you're in luck. The company culture seems much stronger outside of PS. I'm not convinced the PS leaders share the same vision or values as other department leaders. Retaining talent and improving morale doesn't seem to be their priority. Recruiting advertises a rotational abroad in UK or Australia to new PS hires. Every attempt at this was futile. Upper management within Commercial actively prevented this at every step of the way so don't get your hopes up. I was on the bench on several occasions, waiting for new work to come in. There was zero communication, timeline or transparency during this time from upper management so I got a nice 3 week vacation out of this. In my experience, you'll have no voice in your project selection or how long you'll stay on. The reporting structure is an absolute mess. Feedback is essentially non-existent. You're assigned a mentor in PS. However, this mentor may never actually work with you in a professional setting. And this is the person writing your annual review. You also have a career adviser, but again, this person has never worked with you before. You also have a team lead and a TDM one level above the team lead. 12 months on a project and my lead and TDM never once expressed any interest in my career or goals. I also found some of their practices borderline unethical. TDMs, leads, and VPs expecting us to work 10-11 hour days, but only allowing us to bill the client for 8 hours of work? We also had 7 am team calls multiple times a week. Overall, I thought Appian (the company) was great, but professional services (the department) promoted an unhealthy and toxic work environment. For some, PS may be a good place to start your career, but don't expect to stay long.
7Appian Response6yThank you for sharing your feedback with us. It is unfortunate to hear that you did not get the best out of your experience at Appian. We value and consider all feedback, and we have a talent management team within the Professional Services department which is focused on making this an excellent place to work for all employees. We invest in this because it’s important to us. . The experience you describe is certainly not typical. While new visa regulations have curbed some of our international rotations, this remains a vibrant program for us and several consultants have taken advantage of this over the course of this year. Our customers invite us to solve complex problems. It’s challenging work, but long hours are not the norm.
- 4.0Feb 21, 2021DirectorCurrent Employee, more than 3 years
Pros
Recent leadership hires in professional services, sales and marketing are very strong. Lots of opportunity to grow you career. Great benefits and inclusive culture.
Cons
Internal business critical systems need to be improved to keep pace with company growth.
Appian Response3yThank you for sharing your feedback, and for your continued support to Appian over the last 3+ years. As you know, the last few years at Appian have been filled with thoughtful growth decisions, and ensuring we maintain our strong inclusive culture has been a top priority. We are happy to hear feedback that we have been able to achieve that. I would also agree that as we continue to scale, it’s imperative that we review our internal systems. I’m happy to say that we are actively reviewing our internal critical business processes and systems to ensure we are able to continue to support our growing organization. I’d welcome any additional feedback with regards to more specifics on systems that you might be referencing if you are willing to share! Thank you again for your support.
- 5.0Jan 11, 2019ProposalsCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearReston, VA
Pros
My manager is honest, transparent, and is committed to the success of our team both collectively, and individually. She ensures we know our future career opportunities, and that we're developing both the skills we need now, and working on the ones needed to achieve future goals. I love knowing that I won't get stuck in a stagnant role, but will continue having opportunities to learn and grow. My teammates are kind, smart, and supportive. We have a collaborative environment and colleagues readily offer assistance to each other, and constantly share new knowledge with the team. From the broader organization, I feel my contributions are appreciated, and my colleagues are intelligent and pleasant to work with. My role involves frequent collaboration with Sales Account Executives and managers, Professional Services, Solutions Consultants, and corporate operations departments. I have found all teams to be very professional and knowledgeable in their roles. A cultural aspect I really enjoy is participation in AppianLIFE organizations and affinity groups. These groups are formed by employees with the goal of supporting identities or interests in the organization, and building cross-departmental relationships. These groups have provided me both with career-enhancing workshops and training, as well as social opportunities to build relationships and learn more about my colleagues in other departments.
Cons
Smaller departments can feel somewhat isolated, as they have fewer group activities, and often fewer opportunities for visibility than larger departments. It's not uncommon for me to meet colleagues who didn't know my team exists. I think some of this may change when Appian moves to our new HQ building later this year and we're no longer divided by the physical barriers we currently experience being located across multiple floors of two different office towers. AppianLIFE groups have also focused on bringing a more unified culture to the organization, so I believe we are making progress in this area.
5Appian Response5yThank you for sharing your experience not only within your department, but also across teams and within our internal affinity groups. It’s wonderful to hear that you feel your contributions are appreciated. I’m not sure what we would do without the proposals team, as you play an integral role in the sales process! I would agree with your note stating that our new campus will help to bridge the silos of being within two spaces currently. Just a few months to go!
