I'm not sure where to begin the attempt to walk across an ocean negatives. I suppose I will start by saying, that if there was a place that mediocre, C-student frat boys and high school peakers went to push the boundaries for underachieving, that place would definitely be Cogent. There will be very little said in this write up that hasn't been said about Cogent ad nauseam on any review you'll find on Glassdoor. Helpful hint: it's all true. This place is a soul sucking toxic pit. I endured it for 3+ years. A rare feat based on the average lifespan of a Cogent sales rep.
Throughout my 3 year tenure there, I've never encountered a more unprofessional and unaccountable work environment or colleagues. Not to mention down right dirty. And I'm not just talking about the culture. I'm talking all the way down to the filthy and antiquated office. I mean they've done virtually nothing with this place aesthetically since Bush II.
Upon walking into the office you'll immediately see stains on the floor, on the walls, and on the cubicles. You'll find dust virtually everywhere spewing out of the vents. You will pass by an unsanitary, cluttered break room where you will not want to touch anything - yet alone store your food there. You'll use bathrooms that will make you want to hurl on the spot. You'll pass by employees that do not wash their hands or flush. They lack even the most basic office etiquette. Not long after you will hear a racist, sexist, or homophobic conversation piece - probably from a manager. The office I am describing could be virtually any Cogent office through the U.S. if not the world. I am specifically talking about Herndon, VA office where I worked.
Cogent has the classical dog-eat-dog culture you'll find in a lot of telecom organizations. But at Cogent, that's encouraged and welcomed. I've never worked anywhere with so much dissension and infighting among colleagues. The only thing that comes close is a penitentiary's culture. This primarily comes from there just being too many Sales people chasing after the same nickel. Sales people will sell to your account with often very little to no consequence at all. They will undercut you directly and then 'challenge' (ie steal) your account if they get any interest from your customer. Though Cogent will pretend otherwise, there are no Rules of Engagement when it comes to sales. Cogent operates on shades of gray and there are no lanes. As a result, you get internal chaos, noone respecting territory, and these week long ordeals known as 'The Challenge Process'. Noone stays in their swim lane, noone knows how to prospect, and as a result it creates chafed customers as well as employees.
The morale at Cogent is so low it is palpable. It's not worth your time getting to know anyone until they've been there for at least a year or two. The revolving door at Cogent spins so fast and so often, I've seen the entire NAM/RAM/GAM sales floor completely turn over 5 or 6 times. The turnover at Cogent has to be the highest in telecom...even for sales period. Every other day you will see new faces and wonder what happened to 'so and so'. I shudder to think how much Cogent drops on turnover each year. There is no stability. Job security, even for performing employees, is dicey at best. Especially if you don't fit in and play 'the game'. Cogent has a LBJ administration approach to sales – just keep throwing warm bodies at it.
Management is bullyish and casually threatens employees jobs and plays games with people's lives. There are too many people in positions of power that should not be. This is a company where accountability means nothing. If you don't succeed at Cogent, then it's your fault. Not the toxic culture of uncertainty, instability and fear that you have to exist in. They have a turnover of nearly 100% of the course of a year. And they have taken no steps to change it.
It will one day be this company's downfall. You have to remember, that company culture comes from the top and not the bottom. This cutthroat, 'Wild West' approach is propagated and encouraged by management that prefers it that way. Rather than make your own pie, steal someone elses's – that is the mentality and integrity of a Cogent sales rep. This mentality stems from Cogent being rife with power crazed, shady middle to upper management. They're headed up by an even worse yet clueless ivory tower CEO that will rationalize and justify, if not downright trivialize, any issue raised by employees. Advancement is not a problem you will have at this company. Because that aren't any. There is no opportunity for advancement other than becoming a higher level Account rep. The managerial positions are mostly all occupied by an old boy's club member. Most reps will not even take manager positions because they don't want to hire, train, and fire an employee literally every month. Most reps will make more money... well... as reps. It's hard to manage when all you do is operate the revolving door.
Am I selling you on how gratifying it is to work at Cogent yet? Moving onto non-sales/Account Management staff who you must interact with on a daily basis in order to get paid: Sales Engineers, Service Delivery, Support Engineers, Contracts People and other mostly non-revenue generating employees. There is an ongoing issue at Cogent where these employees do not feel that they have to talk to a customer by any means other than e-mail. I mean just basic customer service is something that is discouraged, and if you ever suggest they provide it, well... just don't. You'll never hear the end of it. I've never worked with employees whose jobs and paychecks, that primarily come from the work that you do and business that you bring in, go out their way to be adversarial roadblocks. There is so much choking bureaucracy in that organization that it is next to impossible to get even the simplest tasks accomplished. If there's any way they can make your life as a Salesperson even more difficult, they will. They will sabotage you and your customer thereby ruining the business relationship.
All telecom companies have their issues, but Cogent really is the 'Albino Crocodile' of them all. CEO does not believe in telework, advertising, giving employees laptops, and will rarely permit any travel in order to conduct business with a contact. He also will not pay for certain company certifications to make customers that have security concerns take Cogent products seriously. To abbreviate, he's just cheap. I mean this guy from a business perspective is stuck in the 90s or maybe even the 70s trying to lead a company in the present day. It's just not working. One day hopefully he will wake up, realize it, and sell this company or better yet simply walk away. Cogent does not have what it takes to successfully compete in today's tech space. This is because Cogent is a company constantly at war with itself. It will chastise and run off anyone that wants to see it change for the better. It will conspire against and ultimately oust anyone that tries to hold their colleagues to a higher standard or accountable. Your only true responsibility at Cogent is to go along to get along...selling is actually second. Anyone who upsets the balance of complacency and the 'bare minimum' attitude will find themselves out the door. Just one more of Cogent's hundreds of thousands of ex-employees.
This place will defeat you not just mentally but spiritually. It will take any motivation you have to excel and impale it. For the love of all that is good, righteous, intelligent, and just left on this Earth, stay away from this toxic mire of an organization.
