I believe this would be helpful to read for everyone who is considering whether to work at TechWolf or not. Usually, I don't share any negative experiences but the way this company is inhuman made me realize I could make someone aware of it.
So, speaking facts:
1. Dishonest coward-like people who smile at your face every day but, apparently, gossip and criticize you behind your back. They don't give you direct feedback ever, and you don't know about how things are going from their point of view. Because when you ask, everything is great.
2.They pay way BELOW average telling you that they don't want to "jeopardize your development and you'll progress your salary" with time. This is exactly what they said to me during the recruitment process, however, while working there it was made clear that they don't want to reward you, they want to either "match" your salary or save as much as possible on any hire they make, not even considering any negotiations with candidates. With this being said, I found out that they pay more to people straight out of college than the ones with 2+ years of working experience.
3. Don't expect to be a Wolf, you'll become just a standard Donkey - carrying many things on your shoulders and fully committing to all of this. They make it clear that it's more important than your health, family, and other important parts of your life outside of work. Don't trust the "Wolfpack" they are trying to sell.
4. They indeed organize a lot of nice activities such as team building, parties, games nights, etc, which are being held after working hours. If you decide to attend only a few of them, but not all - "you're not integrating with the company, people won't see you, and you need to boost your visibility". And it doesn't matter that you also have a life outside of work and simply want to see your family members.
5. As a startup, it is very messy, things are constantly changing. However, it is not a "challenging environment", but boring, repetitive, and unrewarding. Imagine, you need to do 1 task, you've done it, but it doesn't matter anymore. So your input is not valued. My 30-60-90 plan kept changing from the beginning and apart from that, several things were implemented and canceled. Then, it is easy to neglect someone's efforts if you don't see the applied results in action.
6. They decided to terminate my contract after several months during the time I was injured and on sick leave. And they communicated this decision 1 day before my wedding celebrations. Yes, very thoughtful people who care about their colleagues. 2 weeks in between those 2 events I was working and not aware of any of this. They made me come to different after-work events (and bringing my partner as +1) and blindly talk about the future of working together and our plans as a team. So, on the last day before my wedding celebrations, I just came as normal to the office, they called me to a separate room, no questions (even how are you) - nothing, just immediately told me about the termination of the contract and asked to give back the laptop and bye-bye. I was really surprised as I did contribute a lot of my efforts to various projects, and socially-wise participated in many different things, went on walks with all my colleagues, etc, not writing details here. The most disrespectful is the timing as I have explained before, as well as I never heard any thoughts or feedback, real suggestions for improvement actions if needed, or any support. That's how I imagine no one should treat people, in any company and at any place. This all is unreasonable and the idea is to get rid of people and find any reason.
7. During termination, HR didn't translate correctly to me from the Dutch language document about the non-competition clause, she just translated the part saying I can work for competitors if I sign, but not the part about getting the compensation pay if I don't sign. Then, she took this document and sent it to my home address only a few weeks later. I should have translated it myself on the spot but had trust in her.
8. The recruitment process is long and bureaucratic with a lot of meetings, tasks, and reference checks. We should expect that from a well-established company, not from a small disorganized startup from Ghent.
9. They are against international people, there is almost no diversity through around 100 people they have. They publish roles that require Dutch language and EU citizenship, otherwise, it is not a cultural match.
10. After termination, they were not eager to provide me with necessary documents like C4 and others, so I had to go to the RVA and they suggested to start a legal action in this case. I didn't but the communication was extremely slow and I still didn't get any original documents.
It is truly a wildlife, in 1 word.
While considering working there, remember - it is not only about your work, but about your mental health too.
Finishing this review with a phrase from a People's team Management person during my onboarding and while being in-between constant meetings - "Why don't you connect your monitors? Only unintellectual people work from their laptops, our founders say"
