Beyond, Inc. Software Developer Sr reviews

I worked for Overstock.com for 3 years. It was one of the worst ran companies I have seen. Software developers are treated as 2nd tier employees. People in IT are often referred to as 'resources' rather than members of a project. They are told what to implement and there is little to no true collaboration between developers and the 'business side' because of power control. Unfortunately a lot of development teams are OK with this because it allows them to put minimal effort in, arriving at 9:30 and leaving at 4:45. There is little to no room for advancement in IT. Ask about it. Communication between teams is near non existent. In fact there exists a certain "if I don't have to tell you I won't" type attitude in near every area of IT. Much of the IT staff is being moved to the Warehouse facilities where the office space is terrible (but they won't show you that during the interview). Most Developers are given 1 box that is a core2duo machine, yes a core2duo!! Two 26 1080p monitors. I have heard it called sweat shop development, thus the terrible hardware provided. They have a 3 year hardware cycle program, but buy low end stuff to start with. The new CTO (as of a year ago) came in because he had been 'successful' with out-sourcing at KPMG. He has started the same sourcing to India at Overstock as well. It is not popular, but he continues to push it through. To summarize, on the surface Overstock seems like a good place to work. But the details show a company that doesn't trust their IT/Development group. Has staff cycling through it in many departments. Overall you will be treated as just a number in the staff. Lastly Amazon is eating Overstock's any potential for growth.

This has been the busiest, most engaging place in which I've ever worked, but I know other people on other teams don't have that experience. The reason I've been busy lately is that most of my team was moved to new project teams, leaving two people to continue development on a schedule designed for six people. The focus on new-new-new projects and the disconcerting tendency to move 50% of the IT staff to the current hot project means older software may be neglected for years, until the business, CSRs, or the partners scream loudly and often enough to get someone (or some team) tasked with implementing a hurried fix. It's tough to recruit full-time employees to the company because it's in Salt Lake City. A lot of people don't want to move to the "middle of nowhere" and don't want to be paid below market-leading wages. When I was hired, Overstock claimed to pay top dollar for developers in the Salt Lake Valley but can't compete in 2013 when other companies (like Goldman Sachs) offer 20% more. Your success, promotions, raises, etc., are tied to how much your dev lead and director like you. That's true everywhere but it's disappointing that low-level managers don't get better training in evaluation and coaching and that some dev leads are kept in positions they're ill-suited to fill. With the recent (announced April 2013) changes to the IT organization management structure some of these problems may begin to be alleviated. Promotions to new positions (not just a title) are uncommon and are based on popularity, so if you're looking to move up you'll need to practice your politics. The company is rapidly building out office space in their SLC warehouse/call center location and relocating development and business teams there. With the bifurcated company Presidency (one based in Cottonwood Heights, one based in West Valley) a lot of teams are being moved "voluntarily." (Seriously? Would you say no?) This has been unpopular with people who chose to live near Cottonwood Heights to be close to work. I feel like the IT organization is not longer committed to learning, developing employees, and improvement, all characteristics that attracted me to the position in the first place.