thoughtbot reviews

-- Client rotations -- I truly loved the variety of work that I was exposed to, but client rotations were difficult and stressful. thoughtbot did a pretty solid job of picking good clients, but some client projects were really rough and left me fried. Towards the end of my tenure, I was yearning for more predictability and consistency. Part of the reason I left thoughtbot was to join a more stable product company with a tighter focus in terms of the toolset and expected work. -- Compensation -- Pay is lower than the market rate. I'm not sure if thoughtbot will ever be able to compete with the rest of the industry in terms of pay. This is another reason I left thoughtbot. -- Transition to remote work -- Naturally, there were lots of challenges around the transition to remote work, especially for me in feeling connected to my friends and coworkers. thoughtbot's management was extremely cautious about condoning gatherings, even post-lockdown. The move away from location-based offices/hires and a desire to not exclude our new non-local coworkers added to the caution. The company I left for faced similar challenges in moving to remote work, but they put effort into enabling in-person connection, so I know it's possible despite the current global situation. -- Politics and Culture -- I think thoughtbot missed the mark on their mission for folks to be able to "bring their whole selves to work". There's a heavy lean towards progressive/far-left politics, and many loud voices often espoused views that made me very uncomfortable about sharing my own. Management often shared political views that also made me feel this way. I'm an open-minded and compassionate individual. I'm interested in creating a world where people have all the tools and opportunities they need to create better lives for themselves and the folks around them, but that didn't feel like enough if I were to voice differing opinions.

They've created a culture of fear. Only hard-left political viewpoints are acceptable and any public deviation is risky. Most of my friends at thoughtbot were liberal with left-leaning politics, and we were scared to share our authentic opinions on any social issues. While my colleagues and I privately discussed being scared to share our views, we wouldn't dare raise our concerns in public for fear of retaliation. We perceived it as social/career suicide to share a genuine belief on any potentially contentious political topic, even though thoughtbot claims to be a place where people can "be themselves." Partially, this is because senior leadership often espouses hard left political viewpoints in company-wide announcements. They take their politics really seriously, so deviating from the party line is synonymous with tanking your career. The DEI council seems to be running the show in this regard. Some of my friends who still work there are scared. They're ashamed of what the culture has become. Some have even mentioned they don't feel comfortable sharing anonymous feedback. When it comes to anything DEI-related, it feels risky to say anything at all. If you don't say precisely the right thing, someone could file a complaint about you, which could have serious career consequences. It's shameful.