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Illuminate Education Reviews
119 reviews
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Christine Willig
23 Ratings
Pros
"You really feel connected as part of a team that is making a difference in the world of education" (in 8 reviews)
"I recently accepted position with Illuminate Education as Remote Support Specialist" (in 8 reviews)
Cons
"Sometimes work life balance is hard" (in 6 reviews)
"Our new CEO brings a maturity and levity to the business that was missing in its start up days" (in 7 reviews)
Helpful (3)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Like a breath of fresh air"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Tech-company vibe to their corporate culture. Managers and recruiters find and hire personable and passionate talent. There are a lot of interesting people and we're encouraged to learn and grow at every turn.
Open space office, headquartered in Irvine, CA. Some may see this as a con, but former educators know how much of a cubicle farm district or office life can be. Orange County is suburbia at it's finest, but offers faster-paced life-styles in the denser down-towns of Costa Mesa or Santa Ana.
The company provides a surprising amount of mobility among job titles/roles. Great for employees looking for career growth.Cons
Growing pains setting in from enterprise mentality. It's expected and I hope it pays off with both with success in our mission statement and financial growth.
The band-aids from feature-oriented development cycle is starting to show. Executive leaders are making moves to curb it though, thankfully.Advice to Management
Reward our hardworking talent. "First person in, last person out" mentality should be rewarded, regardless if they're a manager or not.
Increase professional development opportunities for less outspoken team-members.Illuminate Education 2018-10-02 23:27 PDTHelpful (10)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"The people who were laid off are lucky"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time
Pros
Illuminate USED to be a great place to work. Almost all of the positive reviews here refer to Illuminate prior to July 2018. At that point, Illuminate merged with four other companies to form a new company, with new practices.
Cons
The people who were laid off got to keep their stock, got severance, and got to take advantage of the job market and find higher paying jobs. Meanwhile, those of us who are still here only received partial bonuses, and took a large pay cut thanks to the new insurance policy.
Most people are still here because of the stock vesting schedule. Without that, I'm confident most legacy illuminators would walk.Advice to Management
Illuminate thrived because of its culture. Now, after you've laid off the people that made that were most involved in the culture, and stripped away everything that made Illuminate great, the company is no longer doing well financially. Do you really think there's no connection?
Illuminate Education 2018-12-17 23:55 PSTHelpful (9)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Only One Thing is Important at Illuminate"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time
Pros
Lots of push to integrate 5 companies & products into one. The end result could be a great product, but that remains to be seen.
Decent PTO and holiday schedule. New employees receive 15 days of PTO that can be used anyway the employee sees fit. There are also 12 paid holidays.Cons
It's important to understand that the Illuminate Education of today is not the same as the Illuminate Education prior to July of 2018. In July, the investment firm that owns Illuminate decided to merge IE with several other companies. This merger resulted in a newly formed company with the same name.
There is only one goal for this newly formed company; to provide the investment firm a return on their investment and a profit when they sell. Every decision is filtered through that lens.
Here's an example. Illuminate used to provide 100% healthcare coverage for employees and dependents. That's no longer the case even though current job postings list it as a benefit. Employees with families are taking a $7000 per year pay cut to retain their current benefits plan. Moreover, leadership has been unwilling to answer basic questions regarding the percentage split for healthcare costs.
The reality is this; leadership is cutting costs any way they can to prepare the company for sale. They have zero concern for the people working for them. There's already been one round of layoffs and it wouldn't be surprising to see another.
There may still be people who care about making a difference in education through technology, but those people aren't in leadership positions.
If you want to join a company whose primary goal is to make money for an investment firm by any means necessary, this is a great place to work. If you're looking for a company that values it's "in the trenches" employees you'll want to look elsewhere.Advice to Management
It's very unfortunately clear to every employee why we're making the decisions we're making. It's sad that leadership values employees so little that communication, transparency, and doing the right thing are, apparently, at the bottom of the list of imperatives.
Illuminate Education 2018-11-30 16:58 PST![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Great work culture and fun teams (with the exception of a few leaders)"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsNegative OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time
Pros
Casual work environment. Good company culture. Remote friendly. Covers insurance cost (dental and health). Most leaders are humble and receptive to feedback and genuinely care about you. Irvine office is pretty nice. Free snacks and coffee. Doesn’t feel like anyone is going to throw you under the bus at any moment. Feels like family. Bonuses are nice, but not sure if they’ll still continue. Company is growing quick and makes you feel a little proud of its publicity
Cons
CTO isn’t too friendly. He went on blast to the whole company and said things he shouldn’t have said but somehow he kept his job even though his apology wasn’t a fully believable one. Going through some growing pains on the development side of the company where the structure just keeps changing and it’s hard to know who does what. Some other leaders in the company seem like they were grandfathered in and don’t really deserve to be in leadership positions, but it’s just a small number of those. There are several terrific leaders that balance that out luckily. Early on when I started, it seemed like gossip was frowned upon and I rarely saw it, but now it seems like gossip is growing out of a few corners. Reviews don’t seem like reviews anymore, but I guess that also depends on your lead
Advice to Management
Ask for feedback from the teams on how their leaders are doing. Honesty goes a long way and some people shouldn’t be in leadership positions, but others are awesome. Stop being scared of calling people out. General messages of feedback don’t work
Illuminate Education 2018-10-31 22:03 PDTHelpful (2)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Former Employer"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNo opinion of CEOI worked at Illuminate Education full-time
Pros
Ummmm....snacks, coffee, nice office.
Cons
Leadership, gossip, favoritism, out of touch.
Advice to Management
Listen, see, change, grow
Illuminate Education 2018-11-02 08:57 PDT![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Executive Director"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Creative synergy is encouraged through working with great team of former educators and first class developers
Cons
With growth comes change - and change can be a good thing - need to embrace it!
Illuminate Education 2018-08-03 16:47 PDTHelpful (2)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Still best job ever!"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Work environment, people, and perks. If you are interested in education and doing the right thing for kiddos...This is a place for you.
Cons
Went from small to Huge in 3 years. Stretching of our "change" muscles has been a frequent endeavor. I'm sure it will settle, as does all change, but it is somewhat of a challenge.
Advice to Management
Keep leading us vs. managing us. Focus on students and our mission/vision and we will be able to impact so many kids in a positive way.
Illuminate Education 2018-07-23 12:41 PDT![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Customer Support Manager"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
This company is filled with the most friendly people I have ever had the pleasure to work alongside! They care about your unique qualities and try to maximize your individual strengths.
Cons
None that I can speak of!
Advice to Management
Continue the full company retreats! The last one was AMAZING!!!
Illuminate Education 2018-07-27 07:25 PDTHelpful (1)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Love where you work"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time (More than 5 years)
Pros
Working with people that believe in what we do, great benefits, great team and we are making a difference in education.
Cons
Company is growing quickly and transitioning to a larger company.
Advice to Management
Take care of your employees and they will take care of the rest. Trust that we are smart, talented people.
Illuminate Education 2018-07-23 10:49 PDTHelpful (1)
![Illuminate Education Logo]()
"Excellent Company"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Illuminate Education full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
It's easily the best company I've ever worked for. The compensation, benefits, and bonuses are all great. Management is thoughtful, strong, and loves to see people excel. Co-workers really enjoy what they are doing, and everyone has a well-defined purpose and sense that we are working to help students, teachers, and school administrators.
Cons
No cons, but you must be flexible with change, as the company is merging with other companies. This is also a company transitioning quickly from a "start up" mode to a disciplined, professional company. If you don't like that, this is not for you.
Advice to Management
Keep doing what you're doing, and never forget that your employees WANT to excel and grow.
Illuminate Education 2018-07-21 13:34 PDT
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