Amara Reviews

So many things. The management on the Development side, in my opinion, was out of control. In the year that I worked there, five people were fired without warning or cause (it appeared to just be about ego, politics, or ... not sure. Certainly not about job performance, aptitude or skills.) The last person left from that team just quit. I felt really positive about my job performance and accomplishments, got excellent reviews for the entire year I was there, a "thank you card" saying I was doing a wonderful job one day, and was terminated the next day without warning or explanation. The only thing they said was that it "was the best thing for the team" - they had just terminated two of my brilliant coworkers. I asked specifically if I was being terminated due to job performance and they actually said "no." In my personal opinion, I would never want to work anywhere where firing employees, who put their heart and souls into their work, into the mission, was the solution to everything. It shows no valuing of employees. Within one year, the team had 100% turn over. Every person on the team who was there last December is not there now. Yet, the management is still there, and the upper management lets them carry on despite the obvious problems (which is a problem in and of itself). There is absolutely no rhyme or reason, or accountability from leadership, who has no idea what is going on. During my time there, I also had my SSN misfiled with the IRS, which, after a YEAR of begging the accounting dept/management to fix, it hasn't been corrected. I was underpaid at my last paycheck and had to argue even to get the paystub mailed to my house to point out the mistakes, and they misfiled my "reason for departure" with unemployment, resulting in the delay by over a month of the one paycheck I received from unemployment benefits before I found a new job, which I had within two weeks. Nothing was ever easy. Other cons: 1. Micromanagement in development is rampant. When I was there, management preferred to do all the work themselves instead of trusting a team of smart people to do what they were hired to do. EVERYTHING (even down to emails) had to go through management to be "double checked/edited" (or redone) - and this was for everybody on the team. Team members had zero decision making power. Inevitably, this lead to management being extremely overworked, stressed, and slow to respond. Created a massive bottleneck. I was even told once that I'd "just have to be okay with my projects not moving forward" because I was waiting for approval on everything and of course, they were too busy. This also forces management to stay in the weeds instead of leading, creating plans, directing, guiding. 2. Ideas were not valued. It was very much "my way or the highway". Sometimes, this was disguised because higher ups would say yes to a project an employee thought of, or a better way to do something, but they turned around and roadblocked the projects at every turn. 3. When I was there, there was no real strategic plan or comms plan - at least, not that was ever communicated to the team - and no leadership. Every decision mgmt. made seemed to be going in all sort of chaotic directions, backtracking often, never making any real forward progress. 4. Long hours expected and little pay, but hey, it's a non-profit - and Amara doesn't feel like playing any part in being the sort of non-profit who rises above these "standards". When we moved into our new building, there was no heat for weeks in the rainy Seattle fall, and it got COLD. I had to wear blankets, hats, and gloves to work - and my fingers were still icy all day long. Was this ever addressed? We we allowed to work from home? Provided with space heaters? Of course not. (A small and specific example, but telling.) 5. No room to grow. Besides the fact that growth wasn't even encouraged in my own position, there was no where to go in the org. There are directors (who clearly aren't going anywhere) and recent college grads and not much in between. Sometimes they invent new positions for people they like, but of course, it's not part of any sort of strategic plan. 6. All the trappings of a small business. Lots of preferential treatment, office "politics", and all the "power" being in the hands of a few. It's worse because I really believe in the mission of the organization, and I really think they could do AMAZING, incredible work, and reach so many more children and families, if the dev. department trusted their dev. employees enough to do their jobs, and be innovative instead of making them frustrated to the point of tears every day. I would never, ever recommend anyone I respected work here until management changes. I felt constantly frustrated, undervalued, and roadblocked. Because of the bottlenecks and the inefficiencies, there came a point where I was being treated like (and given the responsibility of) an intern - all the stuff that had made my job exciting, and made me feel like I was making an actual difference in the organization, was in a holding pattern as management was too busy and distracted to continue any of it. All in all: 100% turnover of the development department in a year. That should speak for itself.