Mars reviews

Everything depends on who you know, and the network you create. If you aren't an extroverted person who likes to socialize constantly, and talk yourself and your work up, it is highly unlikely that you will get promoted. Events and meetings always feel like an opportunity to just that, with people jockeying for their personal agendas. As a result, if you just want to get to know people on a personal level, it just don't happen, especially if you have nothing to offer. There is an element of exclusiveness among higher managers, which make you feel undervalued and unimportant if you are just starting out. To that point, the organization has a ton of managers, and not enough people who are actually doing the work. Often reporting structures don't make a ton of sense, and you manager might not even be in your state or country, which is tough when you start off at an organization which thrives on developing relationships. Pay is less than the industry average. The pace of getting things done is very, very slow. So much of our technical work is outsourced, leaving little to learn or develop in terms of skills.

Mars prides itself on "open office" work spaces and touts that this is an important part of the culture. To a degree this is true because collaboration and networking are VERY important to being effective in your work. It's a challenge for new starters to ramp up quickly because they need to be able to build their network and there is little to support them in doing so. The culture is also billed as entrepreneurial and within limits you can have a lot of autonomy. The hidden issue is that for most bigger decisions the processes are very consensus driven and this makes getting things done very slow. Over time this can be frustrating to those that want to move more quickly and lead in an agile way. The IT organization is very male dominated and they cannot seem to retain their female leadership. I often felt like I was passed over for opportunities that went to male colleagues, this seemed to be a global issue so is likely deeply ingrained in the culture, but may be limited to IT.