SmartBear Reviews

Pros

Great people and culture! Our CEO and Executive Team have demonstrated steady leadership during the COVID 19 crisis and a great awareness of the challenges our employees are facing. Weekly all-hands meetings to give business updates, celebrate wins, and address questions as we adapt to the new normal. Leaders and managers encourage employees to find a work-life balance as we, like everyone else, have had to adjust to 100% work from home environment. Strong benefits package and a great location in Somerville.

Cons

Commute to Somerville is hit or miss depending on where you are commuting from. Lots of moving parts to contend with as we continue to grow and raise expectations

Pros

Great work environment with extremely supportive executive leadership team. It's clear that management "gets it" while having to navigate current global and economic issues. New CEO making smart, and sometimes tough decisions. More internal promotions than ever seen at any other company. Work hard, bring ideas, and you'll get promoted.

Cons

It's not a "coast" job.

Pros

Really good Culture, benefits, great leadership, strong growth

Cons

Pay structure is pretty bad; really low base pay and the SDR’s have a capped commission which is odd for a company that’s 10+ years old

Pros

The people are nice and there were some good office perks. With COVID-19 most of us began working from home. High-growth company with lots going on and a lot of product potential but not a place you stay for more than a couple years. 401k match is decent and benefits are cheaper than my last company.

Cons

The leadership is very slow to communicate and they send mixed messages. Managers can’t make timely decisions (especially apparent during the pandemic). Salaries are not even close to industry standard for Boston.

Pros

free snacks and MBTA accessible

Cons

I really enjoyed SmartBear when I started - there was direction, respect, and an overall great culture. Things immediately changed when Frank Roe started in 2018. If you don't suck up to him and feed his fragile ego, he will make your life harder. All the Managers and Directors are either scared of him or sucking up to him, that they abide by anything he tells them to do. He does not inspire creativity, forward thinking, or motivation - he does NOT lead by example, he leads by fear (like a dictator). He also fired a ton of teams and gave them basically no severance. Employees not only feel they can't take PTO, they are nervous to leave their desk at times. Forget about the work/life balance and anything they try to portray in the scripted company meetings. I really wanted to stay at SmartBear, but it just wasn't worth it. My colleagues were awesome, but if you value your sanity and having a life outside of work, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

Pros

Free to propose new ideas without fear of retribution, zero desire to maintain status quo, invitations to present accomplishments to the executive team, company-wide encouragement to take care of ourselves, and each other, through supportive groups or to take time off whenever a break is needed.

Cons

It's not a con, just honesty—there is a LOT of work to do, and given the number of products in our portfolio, there always will be. It's very easy to feel bogged down under an endless backlog. Requires a lot of time management skills and attending to numerous projects always going on at once.

Pros

Great products, people and a winning culture!

Cons

Fast paced environment for those looking for career progression.