Skilljar Reviews

Pros

Don't be fooled by one or two ill-intentioned negative reviews; Skilljar is an incredible and rare opportunity. Our product is a best of breed solution as evidenced by our amazing customer-base, the team is crazy smart, friendly/supportive, and there's so much opportunity for career growth. The leadership team is strong and deliberate in their approach; they care more about the things that truly matter when building a scalable, long-lasting business as opposed to party culture and foosball tables. This isn't to say we don't have a good time (we totally do!), but if you're looking for the stereotypical Hollywood startup experience you'll be disappointed. Personally I'd rather have a super comprehensive, 100% free healthcare plan than an office foosball table or weekly booze parties anyway...

Turnover to date (including past management) has been almost exclusively from the Sales team, but anyone who has ever worked at a startup should appreciate the fact that Sales turnover is commonplace and expected in a high-growth environment. All of that said, the Sales team is really hard working, intelligent, and super collaborative. While we could have been doing more to support and enable their success this last year, changes are currently in process and we're all excited for what's ahead.

As far as culture, Skilljar's is one of the warmest and most inclusive I've been a part of in my 10+ years in the industry. Anyone who says otherwise either isn't making an effort or is hell-bent on being miserable regardless. The team/culture is seriously the #1 reason why I look forward to going to the office every day.

On a final note, the attacks on our CEO in this anonymous setting are truly disappointing to read, and are not at all representative of the sentiment held by most of us on the team. Sandi is the reason why we are going to succeed, and while she expects a lot from her employees, she also gives a damn about the people around her which is more than I can say about most leadership I've worked with in the past. I firmly believe that at the end of the day we're all going to be so much better off as a result of having Sandi at the helm - some people might just not realize it yet ;)

Pros:

- Extremely customer-focused: the product team actually values input from the customer success and sales orgs and makes decisions based on direct customer feedback
- Highly competent, transparent, and data-driven leadership team
- Genuinely good-hearted, supportive, and collaborative colleagues across all departments
- Best of breed product with a fantastic customer base
- Familial culture: we go camping together, have game nights, do triathlons, play trivia, board games, etc.
- Management that cares about their team and is sensitive to the everyday challenges of startup life
- Business that is growing rapidly with tons of upside potential in the market
- Ample opportunity to grow and move within the company

Advice to Management

Please continue to invest in new tools and process improvements to help get us to the next level. Other than that, keep rocking it!

Pros

- Friendly and passionate people
- Good location, in the heart of Seattle and Pike's Market
- Weekly catered lunches

Advice to Management

Recognize loyal Skillets who have been there for a while.

Pros

High growth - you will be given the opportunity to stretch yourself and learn new things, and the company is rapidly growing

Scrappy - we do a lot with a little

Ok to try and fail - data driven approach that gives you the chance to try new things and experiment

Huge opportunity - market is ripe for our solution

Great people - nice team, professionalism is respected and people are smart, interesting and kind

Accountability - refreshing to work in an environment where we regularly assess our progress

Joint vision - there is a clear understanding of what we are all here to do

Advice to Management

Listen and remain open to your team. Demonstrate the joy of working with great people often. Keep on keeping your eye on the prize.

Pros

- Close knit teams; highly collaborative and supportive work environment
- Flexible time off and work arrangements (bring your dog to work, transit cards provided, etc.)
- Highly focused on customer experience and growth
- Transparent leadership, company expectations, and encouraged start-up mentality
- Company values are actually practiced daily by leadership and employees; not just cliche sayings

Pros

After you start, it is exactly what was promised. The team is very open and supportive and willing to help across all functions. Our customers love us, the product is intuitive and the leadership team is transparent. We're all rowing the boat in the same direction.

Advice to Management

Keep your eye on the growth ball and continue supporting employees in their development. You've got something really cool here, do what it takes to keep it going.

Pros

It's rare to find an early stage startup with product market fit, passionate customer evangelists, awesome team members, and strong leadership. Skilljar is doing all the right things to be successful in the short and long term. Sandi and Jason are both highly experienced and run the company accordingly. The problems we solve for customers are especially invigorating - it's energizing to be part of a team that's creating real business value and changing lives every day.

Advice to Management

Keep on being transparent, authentic, continuously learning, and open to healthy debate.

Pros

While I haven't yet been at Skilljar for a full year, I've greatly enjoyed my time here! I have already grown so much in my role and have had the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities especially in the areas I'm passionate about.

Advice to Management

Keep up the transparent, respectful culture going! The team is a great group of folks to get the chance to work with and I wouldn't want that to change as we grow.

Pros

This ended up being a little longer than I had anticipated, so in short: this job has been the highlight of my career in software development. These days I wake up in the morning excited to get to the office, which has been a huge change of pace for me after a grueling stint at a big tech company. Seriously, there is a lot to love about working for Skilljar: as a developer, as an employee, and frankly as a human being. But let’s get down to the specifics...

The product itself is a Learning Management System, or LMS for short. If you’re scratching your head, you’re not alone - I had no idea what this was at first either. Think of those mandatory trainings you might have done at the office, where you have to sign in, watch a bunch of videos, take some quizzes, etc. What really makes Skilljar stand out though is just how modern it is compared to the competition, as well as the niche it’s secured in training customers how to use highly technical products. And as a system, it offers a whole lot: purchase fulfillment, analytics, APIs, Salesforce integration, the list goes on.

One of the nice things about working on a disruptive product like this is all the technical knowledge you get from it. Staying ahead and trying out newer tools and standards is part of the job, which is pretty crucial experience for any dev these days, given technologies come and go faster than you can shake stick at them (looking at you, Angular). And because the product itself offers a wide variety of features, you never know what you might end up working on any given day. When we say this is full stack development, we really mean it. The other nice thing is we’re pretty popular among the customers we have. It feels pretty good knowing people actually like using the tool you’re building rather than begrudgingly having to use it, and of course hearing the occasional praise. And, more of a personal note, but as someone who’s flirted with the idea of doing some teaching one day, it makes me pretty giddy that I’m building something that helps people pick up new skills.

Technologically speaking, the stack has been a treat to work on. Some of this might be bias having come from a big company beforehand, but I find getting things done here to be far easier than I’m used to. Part of that is the technology choice; the Python / Django framework is a winner in my book, and we’re not afraid to integrate with other open source / licensed technologies where it makes sense. But part of that is also a conscious choice to prioritize keeping the codebase high quality and organized. I don’t feel that we cut corners to make arbitrary deadlines here, and addressing technical debt is not an afterthought like it can be at other companies. I also like the momentum when it comes to keeping pace with the industry. We’re always looking ahead in terms of what technologies are developing and what we should plan to move to in the future. The CTO is always open to suggestions if there’s something you’re interested in using, which helps avoid that nagging feeling that you have to keep your skills sharpened outside the office.

Something I personally appreciate is the level of responsibility our leadership displays to the company. Management has clearly demonstrated that they are invested in us as employees, and they keep us in the loop too. Between weekly catered lunches where the whole company gathers to hear about customer stories, and monthly business reviews where we get updates on our financial standing and what every individual department is up to, everything is very transparent. There’s a real sense of camaraderie, and they are doing a great job keeping us motivated. One thing that stands out in particular was when the company invested in subsidized Orca cards after it was found that a lot of employees use public transportation to get to and from the office. I didn’t really expect it given we’re still a small startup, but it was just one of many examples where I truly felt appreciated. Add to that the constant supply of free snacks, standing desks for whoever wants them, MacBooks for developers, and healthy work-life balance - they treat us well here.

But more than anything else, what really strikes everyone who starts here is how friendly everyone is. From the dev team, to the sales reps, to the CEO herself; it’s an incredibly welcoming atmosphere that quickly begins to feel like family. Slack is always buzzing with customer stories or interesting articles of the day - we even have a Pokemon Go channel to call out whenever something rare is near the office, or when we’re going on a team raid. The developers I work with are quite talented to boot, with a good variety of backgrounds and experience levels. It’s really easy to bounce an idea off someone and get some good feedback - no one ever gets irritated or brushes you off. In short, these are the kind of people I’d want to grab a beer with at the end of the day.

In my opinion the people and the culture are what really make this company what it is, which may not be something a lot of devs would prioritize when looking at a startup. But let me tell you, once you’ve worked in an awesome environment like this, you’re never going to want to go back.

Advice to Management

Keep doing what you’re doing. This company has a lot of faith in you, and in my opinion it’s very well earned.