Great people and culture - werkgeversreview Senior Director of Product bij TechSmart (WA)

The people are very kind and will always help each other. From Slack messages to Zoom calls it doesn't feel remote even though that's exactly what it is. I still feel connected to my team and the company as a whole. Questions are answered or solved because everyone cares. It's not as though this is a group who are being forced to deal with something they don't find interesting or are passionate about. If someone doesn't come from a coding background then it is a teaching background. It's the perfect blend for a company that works on teaching coding through a platform.

Sometimes it can take a while for things to happen. Since TechSmart is still fairly small people are still wearing several hats and might not be able to work on a specific project right away.

All of the pros have to do with my coworkers and unfortunately all of them were laid off and/or quit because of the CEO

I started at TechSmart 3 years ago in 2023 and was on the Curriculum team. At that point, the team was made up of 7 people (including myself). Since then, every single one of my coworkers has either been let go or quit. Including 3 new coworkers who joined the team in the last year. I had 4 managers in 3 years. I was the last Curriculum Developer AND staff member left on the team when I was let go. I received an email from the CEO to notify me after I returned from my first real vacation in months. One month prior to my release I was offered a promotion to a management position. I declined the promotion because it was done via a Slack message and I was told I would only be presented with official offer letter once I accepted the position. I was also not going to receive the new salary rate until 2 months later with no backpay. My coworker had accepted a similar offer on good faith but was let go before he saw any salary increase. The CEO is now creating curriculum himself. He does not work well with others, is never satisfied, and does not respect or acknowledge the work of so many talented people. There is no real HR department (HR is now the CEO's wife). He has hired his own family members while never replacing real desperately needed positions. Both his wife and son have been added to the team without any real experience.