Good tech team, but paying below market rates & very low developer morale. - Product Developer JustGiving Employee Review

2.0
11 Sept 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Very friendly company, the MD will chat with anyone :) - Brilliant parties/nights out. Beware of hangovers! - Product team really on the ball, esp. with their new head of product - Collaborative decision making at product level - High degree of autonomy for multidisciplinary product teams - Developers & product together have huge potential - Tech team on the ground very good - Reasonably fast moving, becoming more progressive technically in spite of major problems, listed below...

Cons

- Lots of seemingly random decision making and conflicting messages from tech management - Developers are frequently take aside and spoken to secretively (either individually or in small groups). Zero transparency. - Apparent dishonesty amongst tech leadership, which may just be a symptom of the lack of an ability to communicate - Tech management insist on hiring from outside the company, despite saying otherwise - Haemorrhaging developers at the moment, need to do something about it - Pay well below market rates for developers - The tech decision makers are very detached from the work done by the tech team - Tech management refuse (or lack the ability) to be open and up-front about decisions - Tech leaders have no relevant technical background - Very low morale amongst developers

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JustGiving Response
12y
We're a team going through step change which brings growing pains. We are committed to becoming a place where people are energised by the challenge of working in high performing teams. There is a natural cycle by which teams need to be regularly rebuilt. It is therefore true that through the current changes there are some developers evaluating where they are in their careers and have decided to move on. As a rapidly growing team, we have to hire externally. However, all new roles have been opened for internal consideration (although we will improve the communications around that) and in the last quarter, half have been filled internally. Yes, we therefore have disappointed internal candidates. In actual fact, JustGiving pays at least market rate. The current average salary across ALL JustGiving .NET developers is equal to the average salary for Senior .NET developers in London. However, we hope this is not the only reason people choose to join JustGiving. With respect to transparency, perceived secrecy, conflicting messages, alleged dishonesty etc... it would be folly to claim we have perfect communications and we acknowledge the points raised. However, through our open culture we encourage, and have, conversations in any and all forums- whether that be one-to-one, all-hands or smaller huddles. Where huddles have been convened by JustGiving rather than large groups, it has been to encourage debate around strategy and change, but every developer has been invited to at least one of the huddles on any given topic. There have been one-to-one follow up sessions for those who could not, for whatever reason, join those sessions and have requested a catch up. Naturally, there always has to be room for team members to raise subjects with JustGiving confidentially. None of this should be confused with secrecy. The development team is one of several technology teams represented at the Board by what the reviewer describes as technology leadership. Therefore, we're responsible for a team of wide ranging and deep expertise. Whilst we were specialists once, we don't pretend, for example, to be rock star developers. We continue to work hard to empower teams such that leadership happens at all levels. For example, we don't hold the model presented by the reviewer of there being a distinct class of tech decision makers. Irrespective of that, the tech leadership between them has the most eCommerce experience available in the UK today, not least of which is creating and growing JustGiving itself. It is perhaps ironic that in avoiding direct intervention because we trust the developers (as a matter of course, we tend not to participate in iteration planning, retrospectives, stand-ups, scrum-of-scrums, developer meetings etc.) and encourage enquiry, that we are perceived as detached. We will work at that. We welcome conversations with any and all team members on any point, including robust feedback, because we're passionate about building a great place to work.

Explore other reviews about JustGiving

5.0
25 Sept 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I worked for the U.S. operations (prior to its sale), which meant I had the opportunity to visit the UK office on several occasions and work with many team members. Here are some of the reasons I loved it: -- JG is the pioneer in online fundraising. They have been doing this since before it was fashionable, before the majority of people realized it was a brilliant idea. -- Zarine is energetic, magnetic, just all around awesome. And she truly believes in the company -- I worked in a role that allowed me to interact with charities, fundraisers, and donors. It was such a privilege! I learned so much, and was able to help these great causes raise money. How cool is that? -- Everyone has a voice. We were encouraged to speak up, have an opinion, be bold.

Cons

The senior management team really pushes the idea that the company is flat, but *they* have titles and senior roles and therefore don't always understand how hard it can be to be a mentor to more junior hires, and yet not have structure. This lack of structure also means there isn't necessarily a clear career path. For some, that's a deal breaker. It wasn't for me.

3.0
18 Jul 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

JustGiving has done amazing work in the UK over the past 17 years. They were recently acquired by Blackbaud which has been described as the Death Star. We'll see how the transition goes or if they'll be able to keep their independence.

Cons

JustGive was acquired by JustGiving and my leadership role was eliminated. I was pushed into business development but not given the resources I needed to succeed.

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JustGiving Response
8y
JustGiving exists exclusively to help charities raise more money, by connecting them to people who care. By joining Blackbaud, JustGiving will be able to serve its customers and users even better for years to come, and generally fulfill the company’s mission to grow the world of giving, faster and at greater scale.
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