SolarWinds Reviews

Cons

Company gets a bad wrap from a very specific function where the work is intense but the company is clear up front which isn't fair to management but would also say this role is not for the faint of heart...which I personally am a fan of the pace.

Cons

All we heard about for months was the upcoming IPO. The day of the IPO we had all of these celebrations yet none of the employees received options. I spoke to someone at Sr. Director level which is where their executive level starts, and she got nothing. Someone obviously got rich but it was not anyone on the SolarWinds MSP team. If they plan to include stock options in our bonuses, they are keeping it a big secret. This is not cool and not how things are done at companies that want to attract talent

Cons

High demand on productivity. High pressure sales mentality.

Cons

SVP and C Level leadership are toxic an operate in a constant state of fear. That trickles down to the Directors creating a very sick leadership structure. Ongoing customer burnout is showing up in the lack of recent revenue growth.

Cons

The senior leadership team is very controlling. There is also a lot of negativity that comes from upper management. You will always be behind a number no matter what, and the way quotas are handled and rolled out is a complete disaster. The CEO has a stronghold on everything. I truly believe the company would be much more profitable and enjoyable to work for if the CEO was replaced. Only about 20%-25% of people actually hit their numbers, so OTE isn't what most people should expect to make long term. I have been fortunate to have found a model that works for me, and haven't missed my annual quota in 4 years.

Cons

Horrible management
Pay is not close to market average

Cons

If you look at the reviews of SolarWinds stretching back many years, you will see a common theme: it does not matter how hard you work, or how loyal of an employee you are, if you are not part of managements’ clique, you will be bullied out of your job. This is 100% true and should be an absolute lay-up for an employment attorney looking for a class action lawsuit. My experience: many of the people seemed to know each other and came from retail with little to no experience in high tech. They happy hour together, went camping with management, and lunch together. They would not help train or mentor new employees that were not part of this clique or that were social outliers; think older employer or gay (openly) employee. I saw employees written up for things (sending a quote to the wrong customer) that the retail syncophants would just get a “haha don’t do that again” rebuff for. Employees not in the clique would get dressed down in front of everyone for being five minutes late from lunch while the clique kids would take hour and half “yoga lunches”. Then the kicker: when maybe 20% of the group is making quota, they tell you that you must RETROACTIVELY make quota for the past two months or else you will get fired. Someone else mentioned this is a review, but the review was taken down. I wonder why that was? Setting someone else up to succeed or fail is very easy to do depending on what accounts you give them. I heard a director in openly joke about giving employees he did not like bad accounts.

Cons

Sales process needs to evolve. Great set of products, need to maximize the relationships with our customers, not just a churn and burn mentality.

Cons

This company is lack of proper training. There are so many products in the portfolio and you basically need to learn them all by yourself.

Cons

Where do I start.....
Even if you’re a top producer you’re still micro managed. Management will take away your deals over 50k poorly manage them and then ask why didn’t this deal close. Some direct managers are okay but they have to follow direction from upper management that in most cases have no clue and are stuck in the past with archaic sales strategies. Most of our customers hate us but don’t take my word google SW Sales tactics. It’s all about discount and pushing the PO, get it in today! In most cases you feel like the used car salesman of the software world. If you can keep low visibility into your pipeline like I do you have a shot of hitting your numbers. On the IB side it’s all about what account set you’re given not your ability. If given an account set that has a huge SW foot print they have to buy and are used to the BS so they buy. If not good luck, luckily I’ve been here long enough and have built relationships with my customers. They know the song and dance and often we laugh about it together. If you have 0 sales experience and are looking for a foot in the door into IT sales this place could work for you. Ride out your few years getting told you’re horrible even though you hit the crazy quotas they provide. Then go somewhere else or don’t start if you’re smart. Year over year growth isn’t how they get your quota for the next quarter. Many times I was given a 30-50% increase and when asked why even my Manager couldn’t explain it.