Re:Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace b...
by devrod on Friday March 01, 2019 @12:36PM
(#19283225)
It seems pretty obvious that something is off when a company has 50/50 good and bad reviews, with the bad ones offering a ton of detail, and the good ones way too positive and overly "corporate" with no detail.
Re:Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace b...
by khyryk on Friday March 01, 2019 @10:05PM
(#19287216)
Yep, the fastest way to spot a fake positive review is to notice those seem to be written from the perspective of HR, focusing on things like "fast growth" and "lots of opportunities" that are of little to no concern for the typical person, especially if they're listed as the sole positives. A typical dev is less concerned with the growth rate of the company and how many offices are opening in places thousands of miles away -- they're more concerned about their local delivery team, their local office, etc.
Re:Ask HN: Tools or sites you use to scope out a workplace b...
by halbritt on Friday March 01, 2019 @05:01PM
(#19285749)
Glassdoor is still useful in the sense that you can filter down to the worse reviews. Ignore those that are obviously sour grapes, and get a sense of how bad things are. I see a lot of things like:
Positive Reviewer - "Hypergrowth company! Lots of opportunties, great culture!!!!"
Negative reviewer - "They hired too fast, have no clue what they're doing, and have lots of free food and ping pong."
I suppose that's just a sign of the times, and I don't necessarily have a grudge against the company for doing so. It does however mean that the site is no longer useful to this end, at least for me.
As for directly contacting a company, I tend not to. Sometimes this works out, other times not. I thought I would hate my current job and thought I was quite unqualified, but it turned out to be pretty fantastic. Just going with the flow sometimes works out that way.