Invoke reviews

Management is lacking, long hours, below-market salaries, superficial culture: Don't let the legacy of this agency fool you. They only survive on the reputation of building Hootsuite and the past work of a few talented people that have since left the team. This is not the company they claim to be. They will tell you they are known for their culture and that you'll get to work on interesting projects. They'll tell you that they value work/life balance. The reality is that Invoke fires people that don't deserve to be fired, or wait until people are fed up/dead tired and quit. People's creativity and potential are squandered by bad process and the expectation (although they would never admit it) that you work on the weekends or even on vacation in some cases. Of course this isn't all the time; otherwise you might be twiddling your thumbs waiting for work to come in, bored out of your mind until the next mad dash to meet an insane deadline that they agreed to because "we need the cash flow." And the issue with budget is always brought up when asking for a raise/negotiating salary. People don't get paid what they deserve and they'll try and compensate with "culture" or "6 month salary review" which is a trap. This place is riddled with inept/unwise management, disorganized process/communication, and a total disregard for people's personal lives. Please consider working elsewhere. Just know that all problems that are common at agencies are prevalent here, if not worse.

Very low salaries - They like saying people who choose to work at Invoke Labs are people that are "passionate" and "truly motivated". Well let me tell you something; many people in plenty of companies around the world are passionate and motivated in the job they're in without being under-compensated in comparison to the local job market. If you're speaking with a company and they constantly use these words to wave you over compensation discrepancies, take heed. The salaries at Invoke Labs are truly below market. Very high turnaround - Consider this. The 4~5 person team I was on had 4 different developers (in 1 position) over the span of 10 months. From my time there, this type of thing wasn't just happening on my team. Emails that go like "Effective immediately, ______ _______ will no longer be working here." are a common sight. Out of the people that were there while I was, over half are not there anymore, including the (at the time) newly appointed CEO. Poor management - There are people there in managerial type roles who are clearly not fit to be in those roles. The type of person who has little understanding of engineering challenges and generates more drama, than they generate good will. Worst of all, the type of person who shifts blame onto other team members and flat out lies to the rest of the company in an effort to not look bad. About waffles - it seems to be the case that basically everyone in this company that is involved in recruiting uses "Waffle Friday" constantly. Which should make you think: if the biggest sell a company can make to you is weekly waffles, and passionate, motivated people (in exchange for low salary), you should be wondering what is missing. Cliquey - As has been mentioned by pretty much everyone who has worked there, there are cliques. This is not a natural extension of having small teams. These cliques will determine your success/advancement at Invoke Labs, be it advancement, perceived performance, rumours, etc. If you choose to work at Invoke Labs, I suggest you identify the cliques immediately and find a way to get on their good side. Work/life balance - Related to the point above, if you mix well with the cliques that matter, your work/life balance will be good. Otherwise, be prepared to have your motivation, passion, and dedication to the company questioned by key members of the clique; and as a result, painting you in a very negative light. Suddenly, good work that you've done will be irrelevant, the hours you put in will not be enough, something you were praised for just yesterday will become a fault, and anything you do will be futile. Since teams are small and most people outside your team will know nothing, whatever the clique claims will be fact. Stock options/bonuses - Again, everyone else's perception of you is largely controlled by the clique, including your perceived performance. It'll either make your time at Invoke Labs laid back and enjoyable, or miserable. Stock options are also one of the big points Invoke Labs recruiters try to sell you on, but when I was there, options were really only something to help lure you on-board. Once you're in, there will be next to no mention of options, and will be waved off as "we're working on the details" if you bring it up. This may have changed since I quit, but from my understanding, stock options are "still in the works" even till now.