One of the best companies I've ever worked for - Software Engineer Blue Star Employee Review

4.0
Jun 14, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The president, Dan Sherwell, truly cares about each individual employee. He remembers your hobbies, the names of your children, and so on. He also cares about your happiness on the job, and is proactive about finding new opportunities for you, so that if and when you are ready for a new challenge, there is a job waiting for you. The training budget is extremely generous. You can use it towards technical books, conferences (registration fees and travel, if necessary are all included), classes, and the like. I exceeded my budget one year, yet Dan allowed me to go to another conference simply because he knew I would get value from the conference and share my knowledge with other employees. You can choose among many different health plans to best suit your needs. You can choose from an HMO, PPO, POS or HSA; most of these plans are fully covered by the company except for the PPO, but even then, you only pay a small amount out of pocket. The employee and dependents are fully covered, which is awesome. Time off: Some might not like this, but I think it's a cool idea: all time off, such as floating holidays, vacation, and federal holidays are all lumped together as PTO. Perks: We get a monthly internet stipend to cover the costs of broadband, and we get a free computer every other year. The company culture is great. We have DBAs, Developers, Sys Admins, and the like. Every other month, we have tech talks and a bonus is that we get paid to attend, and there's free dinner too! It's a great way to learn new things while meeting other people in the company.

Cons

Additional 401(k) match is given only at the beginning of the following calendar year, and is not fully vested. Other small companies gave it up front and it was immediately vested. It is difficult for management to truly ascertain the value that we provide to our customers, when they are not on site with us.

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Blue Star Response
9y
Thank you for your review! We appreciate your kind words as well as your honest feedback. With regard to our 401K plan, it seems that there may be some confusion regarding Blue Star’s employer contribution policy. While you are correct in that the profit sharing portion of the 401K match vests over time, part of the company’s 401K contribution does vest immediately. Please consult the benefits section of our employee portal for more information, or contact HR if additional clarification is necessary. You also make a keen observation with respect to the challenges posed by having a geographically distributed team! It’s true that it can be difficult for company leadership to stay apprised of our team’s individual accomplishments. We do the best we can to elicit feedback from contract stakeholders, but we know this input is often incomplete. While it can sometimes feel uncomfortable to call attention your successes, we’d encourage you to take a proactive approach in sharing your achievements with Dan. We trust that you’re out there doing great things. Don’t be shy. Tell us about them! Again, thank you for taking the time to leave a review of Blue Star. We hope you’ll continue to communicate with us in the future.

Explore other reviews about Blue Star

5.0
Dec 31, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company has the best benefits out of all the companies I have worked and looked. Great team events, tech talks, company outings and parties. Wonderful CEO and HR staff. Everyone is responsive to your needs. The company is involved in many projects and technologies. They're flexible with you moving around and spending money to grow your skills and experiences.

Cons

Some of the 401k are distributed at year end instead of bi-monthly

5.0
Aug 3, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Blue Star has great salaries, benefits, and employees/co-workers. I am always impressed with how smart and talented everyone is at the company. Clients recognize the talent and appreciate the reliable quality that the company provides. The president, Dan Sherwell, truly cares about each employee and is one of the nicest guys around! The benefits are amazing (very generous 401k and paid time off, tech talks, company events, insurance, etc). The company has many contracts and options for employees. I anticipate that as the company continues to grow that it will get even better as even more options will come available because of the great reputation that Blue Star has with our customers and partners.

Cons

Blue Star does not have any prime contracts that I'm aware of, so slightly easier placement on contracts is not available. However, on the various contracts that Blue Star supports, it seem that generally getting placed is not difficult due to the quality of the employees and reputation of the company.

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Blue Star Response
9y
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're glad to hear that you have such a great respect for your colleagues and that you feel so optimistic about the future of the company! You do make a keen observation regarding Blue Star's current lack of prime contracts. This could change in the future. As our team grows in size and ability, our ability to act as a prime contractor grows as well. In the meantime, we're glad to hear that you're enjoying life at Blue Star. Please continue to share your thoughts from time to time! Thanks again for your review!
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