GoPro Employee Reviews about "manager"

Pros

Great action camera and brand. There are couple of groups which are very innovative and productive. And they are actually making the company stand out among others.

Cons

Some groups are poorly managed and lead. I happened to work in one. Lots of politics and lies. Managers were egomaniacs and lie through the tooth. High title inflation. People who don't have leadership skills are all promoted to the managerial position. Salary is nowhere close to Bay area standards. Work was very demanding. Which is positive and negative. It gave me opportunity to learn and if You have family, it will take Your time off from Your family. HR department is not to the standard in my opinion, given the fact that, the tech industry is human capital intensive. I noticed this, right from the day I joined and right to the last day.

Pros

If you're a college grad looking to get some great experience in a corporate setting, then GoPro is perfect for you...especially if you don't like to make money. The experience is worth it and having GoPro on your resume will take you places. It can be a fun place to be at first, but once you get settled in, you quickly learn of all the serious flaws. There are some REALLY talented people at the company, that in my opinion would do so well in other companies that realize their true potential and know their value. You also learn a ton of skills and make great connections.

Cons

The pay, at least in Media, really sucks. Like I said, great for college grads, but it's not acceptable pay for people who have tons of experience. Especially when it's HQ is in the most expensive area in the world. The company is riding high on being the first to market and creating a fairly well known brand, but lack the foresight to truly be innovative. Competitors are catching up and now GoPro is in a reactionary state. The company is very poorly managed. Friends of friends or people who were quickly needed to fill a role became managers with zero management experience. Then they wonder why their stocks are down. The company also suffers from the original employees clashing with new employees that might offer something new. Thus, trust is non-existent between anyone and nothing can get done without a million people getting involved. All of this creates a workplace that doesn't communicate effectively and misses so many opportunities to live up to the brand they say they are. It sucks, but it is what it is. On the outside, GoPro seems like the greatest company to work for. But in reality, it's a big mess.

Pros

weekly 2 hour live it love it "adult recess" and free products

Cons

Upper management has made many terrible decisions over the years. Engineering probably sees more turnover than any other department and is constantly releasing unfinished products that usually requires either a recall or a last minute launch update. We constantly make the same mistakes each launch and are hardly held accountable. We've lost all of the top level leaders and most talented program managers in Engineering. Sales team is largely unorganized and has seen and is still seeing massive turnover, including at the highest levels. The people left in sales are largely unknowledgeable, poorly qualified and make terrible decisions. They in many cases make decisions that put the customer's needs and wants over what's best for GoPro. They can't balance making the customer happy and GoPro's interests and get controlled and give in to customer's outrageous and unreasonable demands. Sales forecasts change constantly and are unreliable. Operations team has also seen massive turnover and also at the highest levels. They are understaffed and lack local resources/talent and as a result just fly around constantly. When they travel, please believe me, they travel in a pack. They have multiple systems of record for the same things because each subgroup in sales just does their own thing. The finance team can't seem to see anything without their finance blinders. They make decisions and see things from the finance perspective and only the finance perspective and make decisions that don't necessarily translate well in the real world. IT has probably seen more high level turnover than any other department. Each new leader brings in a new tool or system and now we've got way, way too many. Many of which can work for the entire company.

Pros

Killer benefits and perks Free equipment Paid travel to trade shows Awesome events for employees Like minded individuals Felt like a startup at times Its easy to believe in the company's potential

Cons

Rigid hours Management lacks cohesion and focus (this comes from the very top down leaving lower level managers in a bad position) Lack of transparency - this is to be expected with a company this large but there are lots of little secrets that people pass around - again you need to be in the inner circle Promotion and reward not always based on merit. There are a handful of individuals in higher level positions because they are friends with the management, not because they deserve to be there. Teams are entirely separate and are not aware of each others goals. There seems to be little interest in fixing this. Its somewhat of a Google approach so no one team knows the full picture. Helps new products and initiatives remain secret.

Pros

Working at GoPro was one of my highlights in my growing career. I always had fun working with the team and the products.

Cons

As much as I want to call out on specific managers, I will keep this professional. 2 year contract max is total BS, fix it!! Meaning after 2 one year contracts, you're unable to work at GoPro as a contractor. A lot of nepotism and broken promises from management. Countless times I was promised a FT position from my managers and was easily dismissed.

Pros

Great environment in San Mateo, some people are lovely to deal with. Helpful also

Cons

Every move you take is watched, recorded (and used against you) not able to speak to different departments. Managers become best friends with employers and they have a benefit over others.

Pros

I have been working at GoPro for the last 2 years and when I started it was a great place to work. Pre-IPO you had the smartest people as coworkers, great attitude, no meddling from management. It was a great culture where everyone worked hard and also knew how to have some fun. Everyone was seen as an equal contributor to the company.

Cons

The last year the company culture has completely changed to more of a corporate level. So many managers hired who are clueless on how to do their job. Most of these new employees are buddies of recent hired managers or C level persons. They bring their corporate style and don't care about how the culture use to be in the past. Lot of talent has left of been laid off. When the stock was $98 you could live with do nothing know nothing management but when it's hovering around $10, it really hurts the company.

Pros

-You build genuine friendships with your coworkers -Managers truly care about your career and your growth as a person -You get to work beyond just the scope of your position and experience new work responsibilities. -Excellent benefits selection. -Food in the kitchens and a lunch cafe (with great food) on campus. -Executive team and management take employees' voices very seriously. It feels like you can get ahold of and talk with people no matter how high up they are.

Cons

-The company is still trying to get back to a more successful place it seems, and this can make it "less fun" to work there. -Work can be frenetic and lack some direction. It seems like there are lots of people pulling in different directions, so the projects could be more efficient if there was better communication.

Pros

Great work life balance. Great perks.

Cons

Many engineers are leaving the company. Most issues get blamed on low level people. Nepotism and bro culture. 5 to 7 levels of managers and directors that are generally absent5 to 7 levels of managers and directors that are generally absent5 to 7 levels of managers and directors that are generally absent day to day. Mostly knee jerk reactions from management. Program managers and product design managers that have no idea what it takes to engineer a product. No job mobility because of management bloat.