Appreciate your employees - Software Development Engineer Tantalus Employee Review

2.0
28 July 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company has great technology, with still a lot of potential to develop. The technology is fully vertical integrated, with devices in the field, communication network, data collection, storage and presentation.

Cons

Still a lot of soul searching, redefining methodology, all heavily in flux. More important, people are not appreciated, and management has a rather dictatorial attitude. When moving to the new location, there were "consultations" with employees about the proposed open floor plan. There were many objections, all with practical arguments. All objections were met with "not gonna happen", "not negociable", etc. The plan proceeded without any change, and an employee (one with a lot of experience in all aspects and one of the most productive) raised a few concerns about the floor plan, the management was startled and replied "...but I thought you liked it"... A few weeks later, that employee was let go for "ongoing performance issues". There are more such cases; for example, an employee refused to mark a bug as fixed (it wasn't) to allow release on schedule. The product was released anyway, and when the bug was found after deployment to customer, that employee was blamed for it. Compensation for Engineering is barely competitive, it is relatively easy for the former employees to find better paid positions in the area. In one case, a (former) employee obtained almost twice as much at another company.

Explore other reviews about Tantalus

4.0
14 Oct 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fast growing but still small company with big aspirations and a unique position. Individuals can really make a difference if they have enough time.

Cons

No work life balance for the majority of US employees; many are burning out quickly, feeling unimportant and under valued.

1.0
2 Mar 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work in new SmartGrid - Smart Meter technology sector, customer base in U.S., Canada, Carribean and South America. Potential for rapid advancement.Travel to beautiful spots of rural, wide open Canada and United States. Work with various electrical co-ops and municipalities. AMEX card, computer and phone with data package and MiFi hub. Room for advancement.. Good benefits, competitive pay, reasonable negotiation process, paid holidays and 401K with 4% matching. All employees company wide receive fixed 3 weeks of vacation. Canadian startup.

Cons

C-suite taken with themselves, founder of company unable to let go and let staff make intelligent decisions needed to rectify technical issues, excessive technical debt with no end in site, poor guidance of company, chaos, knee jerk reactions to problems, no development of staff, people fired for thin reasons, yet others kept that are obvious roadblocks to success. Repeated deception of product issues to customers. Technically unqualified people placed in management positions. Training marginal or solely on-the-job hands-on. Sales have dried up and people let go without position back fill. Low number of sales wins past 18 months, resulting in cash flow and other financial difficulties as a result. Financial position hidden from employees, and running on borrowed money month to month. Canadian startup.

6
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