Equal Experts Reviews

Pros

If you're a pragmatic contractor that loves crafting software then this is a fine organisation to be involved with. My experience has been overwhelmingly positive - I was placed at a client with other EE people and felt valued and respected from day one. EE take care to ensure you're delivering value to clients, not just a bum on a seat, and this really shows. The interview process at EE sets the bar higher than most and you can tell in the calibre of people they hire - not just in technical know-how but in general attitude and professionalism. The EE network is a wonderful thing and long may it continue to grow!

Cons

They paid a bit less than some of the other consultancies engaged with the client but this is a minor grumble since the EE day rate is decent.

Pros

1. Fantastic range of opportunities to work for clients such as Co-op, Tesco, HMRC and O2. 2. Lots of input into which client you get deployed to. Management takes into account what tech you want to work with and the location. 3. Treated like any other consultant, there is no "junior" or "graduate" vibe. 4. Management are more than happy to expense fees for training courses/exams. 5. Great pay with 2 salary reviews per annum. 6. Regular social events and meetups with colleagues on the EvolvE programme.

Cons

1. There appears to be a dry spell for clients to send EvolvErs to, however this is to be expected at this time of the year.

Pros

* Equal Experts hires ~80% of contractors as their employee base. They usually hire people who have over 10 years or experience on their area of expertise which means all the teams I've worked with were high performant and experienced. * Flat hierarchy. They have an advice process were they take the advices and suggestions from all employees giving autonomy to all employees and removing any hierarchical steps from big and small decisions taken by the company. * Everyone is quite friendly and the network of contractors is massive and great for one to grow in all aspects of one's career. * They really worry about mental health - the kind of support I had when facing an issue was amazing and it was amazing in a moment I really needed the support. * Again, everyone is great with tech, one can learn and work on awesome projects/tools while working for them.

Cons

* I think they're on the right path but we need more diversity on our teams.

Pros

Interesting and challenging projects, encourages a great work-life balance (depending a bit on the individual client's working practices), some really good people who are highly skilled and in the most part humble and open to ideas. Lots of autonomy to make decisions, try things

Cons

As others have commented, going through growing pains as the original lightweight processes and org structures are being scaled. But generally this is being done in a sensitive and mature way, and for the right reasons. Recent changes to strengthen the Exec team are starting to work well. Some projects struggle to apply the EE cultural values, often due in a large part to politics within the client's team. Occasionally leads/EMs struggle to manage this type of client, but ultimately people get paid well to deal with these challenges. Permanent and contract staff are given a lot of autonomy, and in general the recruitment process selects great people ("grown-ups") who can make the most of this responsibility. If you can't, go somewhere else.

Pros

* Highly autonomous * Lots of opportunity to positively impact how and where the business grows * Lots of interesting client engagements, with real and interesting challenges * Great leadership team who get it and create a culture that enables growth * Working with a first class team of capable and passionate associates * Great company profile so great to be able to blog and speak on behalf of a respected company

Cons

Still young in many ways, but that's more of a Pro than a Con, as the leadership team work really hard to maintain the flexible culture whilst finding ways to embed foundations that enable continued long-term growth

Pros

- Great network of smart, competent and friendly people - Almost no management, no egotistical people - Ability to switch between different projects (if appropriate & available) - Good business model and hiring process - Helpful staff

Cons

- For certain customers that are resistant to any change, challenging their values and decisions might be necessary & more useful in terms of the overall company & team performance - Regular feedback from teammates could be useful for improvement

Pros

- The standard of hiring is really strong. They look for technically strong individuals with good work ethic and the right personality to work in a software development consultancy. - Because the vast majority of folks are contractors, the turnover is healthy. The teams scale up quickly and if someone doesn't work out, they leave at short notice. - The events are very good and well attended.

Cons

- The focus is on hiring people who are already experienced at what they do. Those contractors are not looking for any career progression, they generate the fees and so the employees are left behind. As an employee, more loyalty is expected but not much thought has been put into developing employees. - Oftentimes, associates (contractors) on-site will get opportunities to change their roles and increase their responsibility yet the same opportunity to progress is not there for permanent staff. - There is a distinct lack of females at the higher echelons of the business and we have seen quite a few senior women leave the business recently. - Those who give constructive feedback about the status quo are not 'grown-up' and marginalised. - Lack of hierarchy and career progression means that ambitious people are all looking to be partners as that seems to be the only thing to aim for. It has created chaos and unhealthy politics. - Many partners are not visible to the business and it's unclear what they actually do and what results they are accountable for.