Used to be the best, now waiting to vest - Software Engineer Smartsheet Employee Review

1.0
27 Oct 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

HR and Finance are super great! wonderful people, still carrying the Smartsheet torch.

Cons

Changes based on adaptation are totally expected and encouraged. They are what make companies great. What is happening now is not that. They are changes based on a series of poor decisions that are now compounding on each other. Looking for someone blame was not the Smartsheet way, it is now. Taking away the things that MADE Smartsheet special and different, and making it just like any other software company, was completely unnecessary. Many of us are now mourning what has happened, and a lot of us feel like we lost a family member. Smartsheet will go on, and will continue to do well, but we are not blind to the total disingenuous message delivered by leadership. "Reach out to HR or others"? no thank you. Last time someone asked a simple question about why things were done, they were berated for 30 minutes by the CTO. Politics and games were the opposite of what Smartsheet stood for, are now the norm, and are now permeating the organization. This is not a sour grapes situation, although I know that this review will be regarded as such. This is a fundamental shift away from what made Smartsheet the best company many of us have ever worked for, to just an average place. Good to go to work at, but not a place that we will want to work at forever, like it used to be. This is now another mediocre stop on the tech job train.

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Smartsheet Response
6y
Our engineering model has evolved as we’ve scaled -- I remember years ago when we first introduced engineering managers, and how uncomfortable that felt to some. Our new end-to-end service ownership model (consistent with how most moderns firms operate) enables us to better serve our team by promoting ownership, alignment, and innovation. This, in turn, means better serving our customers. I feel this change was the right decision, and I’m working very closely with our CTO and others in the organization to ensure its success. When we talk about innovation at Smartsheet, one of our tenets is: “Embrace change, don’t fear it. With change comes growth.” Hope you find a way to get onboard and contribute to what we are pursuing, together. -- Mark Mader, CEO

Explore other reviews about Smartsheet

5.0
11 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great collaborative environment and competitive

Cons

Easily overwhelmed with phone calls, chats, and emails.

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Smartsheet Response
2w
We're so happy to hear that you're happy here! Collaboration with a healthy dose of competition is always great to hear, thank you for your review!
1.0
26 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Supportive of AI tooling. I had a great manager. I heard the severance packages are great, but I left of my own volition, so I don’t have personal experience.

Cons

Complete lack of direction or management at the mid to high levels of the company in product and engineering (most everyone left or was pushed out by cronyism from the private equity acquisition). No more equity offered to employees. No opportunities for promotion. They’ve shipped or are shipping most of the core products (including the core “sheet” aka Grid app) to India and have laid off tons of employees (somewhere between 12% and 15% of the company). Upper management did the thing where they had the US developers interview tons of people out of India, and then about half a year later laid off tons US developers, including several of the people that did the interviews. Upper management said that the India teams would be working on other projects, but clearly that was a lie. They laid off people without consulting their managers, or their manager’s managers, and without knowing what team they actually worked on or what they did. So entire teams were laid off unbeknownst to them. Very quick and poor handoffs to India, if any. You will likely be working on multiple teams at once, or moved to multiple teams during your time there in short periods of time. On-call can be a nightmare. There is no culture of any kind. Basically do not work here, whether you’re out of the US, India, or Bulgaria (the main countries for developers).

1
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Smartsheet Response
3w
Thank you for your honesty. While we’re glad that you had a great team and the tools you needed, it’s incredibly tough to hear that other aspects of your experience were less than great. To your point about equity, we’d like to clarify that we do offer a limited equity pool with specific eligibility. That said, navigating transition is already tough, and adding in other aspects like global shifts and new leadership can make it feel even harder. We know the dust hasn’t completely settled, and we understand that we have a lot of work to do to repair employee trust and morale. We’ve set off on that journey, and we appreciate all of this feedback along the way. Thank you, and we wish you all the best in your next chapter.
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