Squiz Reviews

Pros

Nice offices, some quality staff

Cons

Success internally is based on things other than performance. If you speak the truth, you are likely to be frowned upon if it is not what senior management want to hear. It looks all shiny from the outside, but really there is a lot of politics playing out.

Pros

Mostly humble and down to earth colleagues

Cons

Outdated tech stack struggling to fit modern needs of the web Less than stellar pay Too much change Stressful work conditions

Pros

The people here are some of the brightest in the digital industry. If it wasn't for the amazing colleagues I worked with I would not have stayed. Some of the middle management is quite good but it seems like they aren't trusted to make meaningful change.

Cons

This organisation is not for professional technology sales people. One only needs to read the recent reviews to understand the type of organisation this is. In my time here there were three massive restructures, one right after the Covid outbreak, where a significant amount of the sales staff were let go(more then 50% of sellers). The company line was this was due to market uncertainty but colleagues expressed to me that the company had a stellar end to the financial year, nearly 100% to budget.... so why let go of all your contributors? In addition, the company pays some of the lowest base salaries in the market and the commission plan has traditionally been horrible, with unrealistic targets and subpar accelerators. A new sales leadership was brought into the business in 2019 and there was some positive change but one of those leaders was made redundant and all the forward progress was undone. The've hired two new executives right after they let go of half the selling team but still haven't addressed the issues in sales. When you review the executive ranks of the business you quickly find there is not 1 executive with actual selling experience. There is no equity plan for high performers which is common in the tech space. The company recently received outside investment as well as being profitable for decades so the decision to lay off staff seems to be driven by greed vs ensuring continuity. The senior executives and founders seem to have a disregard/lack of understanding of sales professionals. It is clear that this company does not value high performing sales people. My suggestion is if you are a professional tech seller and value a lucrative sales plan, a culture that supports you as an individual contributor, equity in the company and a progression path... then Squiz is not for you and you should avoid it.

Pros

The culture at Squiz is supportive, vibrant, fun. I enjoyed coming to work each day to be with co-workers who became friends. We constantly challenged ourselves - everyone is very skilled and inspiring to be around. The Squiz DNA is apparent in everything that they do. I had opportunities to extend my skill set, and to travel interstate. I learnt a lot technically and also extended my "soft skills" a lot on this job. I became a mentor and trained new staff in our products, and I became very good at supporting customers over the phone, often being asked for by name by recurring customers. A complete turn-around to where I was before working at Squiz, I grew a lot thanks to this job. My immediate management was the best - technically savvy as well as good leaders. How often does it happen in IT that you can ask your boss for technical advice on how to do things, or have banter over the merits of encryption algorithms, or ways to enhance database queries? I really appreciated that. Also I really appreciated that I could rely on middle-management elsewhere in Squiz to have our backs (particularly in Melbourne), to Fight For Better, and to stop the BS, not be a DH, and help me to Find a Way (the Squiz Values don't pass Glassdoor's language censorship, which I find quite charming, and a strong Pro for Squiz, actually). Thanks to those Values being followed by team members, I was able to connect with anyone in the company for help on our customer's issues, and although my office was remote, we were constantly in the loop, and central to the day-to-day operations of the company.

Cons

Senior Management was not transparent, and it is difficult to discern the reasons behind a lot of the choices and directions taken, both technically and for the business. We were delayed for a long time with strategic infrastructure upgrades. Caused by a single individual with a lot of power and backing from the senior management. This cost the company a lot of extra work, risk, and money. After that individual left we were finally able to get on with the long overdue tasks. Still paying down technical debt because of this.

Pros

- At first the team and the customers.

Cons

They have just gone through the second of two large redundancies in the 3 years of my employment with them. Getting rid of the only people who actually bring money into the business! Wouldn't be surprised if the business goes under in a year or less. If you want to be safe with your job, you had better make sure you are in the 'inner circle' as that will be the only thing that will keep your job safe! The company has no direction at all and is falling behind in the market very quickly. They will be lucky to survive 3 more years the way the business is being run at the moment.

Pros

None would not recommend to anyone

Cons

Negative culture and bonuses are withheld from you