uShip Reviews

* As a developer you don't really have a manager. Your "manager" will work on a different team and have a "real" job that doesn't involve managing people. As a result your manager won't really know you or your abilities or your day-to-day. * Seems to be oriented completely towards millenials who don't like to be told they're wrong, hence the "hands-off" management style. * May be fired without warning like I was. The reason given was that I hadn't checked in enough code over the past few weeks. When I pointed out that most of my code during that period was pair-programming, the guy firing me didn't care and said he expected "more" from his senior engineers. I was never given a warning or told I wasn't doing well, and I've never been fired from a development job for lack of performance during my entire 20+ year career. In fact I've generally been given large bonuses and even stock grants because I tend to excel at my job. * Focus on agile development to the detriment of actually getting stuff done. Every task I was assigned was a minor bug fix or feature that took 1 day or less to complete.

HR oversells the "start-up" benefits. The all-you-can-eat lunches are pretty bad. Want to see pre-cubed chicken poured from a plastic bag in a pot and covered in grease and salt? It's pretty gross, and a great way to put on the uShip 15. The monthly happy hours are just an excuse to get blacked-out drunk and act like frat boys. The first few are fun to watch and then the behavior is just sad and embarrassing. I saw several men make inappropriate passes at female coworkers, and HR has done little curb this aggressive behavior towards women. HR even told one woman to "stop being so nice and pretty." There is little upward mobility here. The "perks" attract young talent out of college who move on in a year or two because, although titles may change, actual job duties don't. The pay is also pretty low. Management frequently loses focus, micromanages, and doesn't seem honest with employees. The All-Hands meetings are used to indoctrinate, not inform. I don't know anyone who took them seriously. There are a lot of "hand wavers" at the VP level; they assign pointless/minute tasks across departments to make it seem like they're accomplishing something, when really they impede the efficiency of the employees with whom they work. The developers are treated like princes; the rest of the departments lack funds, are overworked and treated as extraneous members of the 'Ship. Morale has nose-dived in recent months, and I would expect a large exodus of employees soon.