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    Ocado Technology Reviews

    Updated 21 February 2019
    96 reviews

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    4.2
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    Approve of CEO
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    James Matthews
    1 Rating

    Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • "Working from home and remote working are generally discouraged" (in 5 reviews)

    • "Location (long and expensive commute from London)" (in 2 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons
    1. Featured Review

      Helpful (3)

      "Perfect place, great people, great processes"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Mobile Developer in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Former Employee - Mobile Developer in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Ocado Technology full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Working flexibility
      A lot to learn from colleagues
      Really high level of knowledge in the teams
      People are hired for their knowledge, and everyone is really listening to your solution
      Great place to grow skills
      Offices are amazing
      Everyone is friendly
      Encouraged to be who you are (skills, look, etc)
      Good and cheap canteen in the office
      Lot of side projects, if you want to change

      Cons

      Salary slightly lower than the average, probably
      Hatfield (the office location) is a small town with nothing to do, so it's better to commute (lot of better towns nearby)

      Advice to Management

      Keep working in the same way, but increase the salaries to good employees

    2. "Working at Ocado Technology"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Software Engineer in Hatfield, Yorkshire and the Humber, England
      Current Employee - Software Engineer in Hatfield, Yorkshire and the Humber, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ocado Technology full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Agile development environment. Very collaborative and trustworthy place to work. The management really look after you and are extremely supportive. The variety of problems to solve across the domains is substantial and interesting.

      Cons

      Office is outside of London

      3. Join the Ocado Technology team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Great place to work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Software Engineering Intern in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Current Employee - Software Engineering Intern in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ocado Technology full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Very nice people and technology to work on.

      Cons

      Location is a bit boring but very close to London.

      Ocado Technology Response

      21 Feb 2019 – Social Media and Content Lead

      Thanks for the positive review!
      For anyone thinking about commuting between Hatfield and London, we offer free season ticket loans for the train, a free shuttle between the station and the office... More

    4. "IT Team Leader"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - IT Team Leader in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Current Employee - IT Team Leader in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ocado Technology full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Exciting projects and tech stack.
      Working with some very smart people.
      Not much for red tape.

      Cons

      There are quite a few silos and quite a few "secrets" circling around.
      Still some finger pointing (that wasn't me, must've been someone else).

      Advice to Management

      Career model has made people choose either tech or organizational and that has provoked the appearance of "pointy haired boss" type, some areas more than others. Though has been improving.
      Review salaries as there is a huge gravity towards London.

      Ocado Technology Response

      21 Feb 2019 – Social Media and Content Lead

      Thanks for the review and your constructive comments

    5. Helpful (1)

      "Senior Software Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Software Engineer in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Current Employee - Senior Software Engineer in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ocado Technology full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      You will have the opportunity to work with cutting edge tech. If this is important make sure you state this as a requirement when you apply, because this varies a lot depending on which team you go into.
      I have found line managers are very supportive. It is easy to switch teams if your experience is different.
      I have not encountered anyone with problematic people skills. The recruitment process filters them out well.
      Pay is good for Hertfordshire. If you live in London and plan to for the foreseeable future, you can do better.

      Cons

      Lack of parking and poor public transport connections. Working at home is rarely an option. Unless you live within cycling or walking distance of the office, your commute will be stressful.
      Management are penny-pinching in some areas (e.g. software licenses), but wasteful in others (e.g. unnecessary town halls that tie everyone up for hours).
      The main office (Trident Place) has poor facilities. Be sure to keep a portable fan and warm jacket at the office to be prepared for 15-27C temperatures. Throughout 2018, overcrowding was a problem. Sometimes, you may be queueing 30 minutes for sub-par canteen food.
      Maybe it depends on which team you are in, but I have not found the work very challenging or my time well-used.
      Feature development seems very slow. Mostly due to lack of motivation/incentives, indecisive business/retail and poor processes.
      Backwards security policies - inconvenience when it is not needed and disregard for the real risks.

      Advice to Management

      General managers should talk directly to dev teams to hear their concerns.
      Be more willing to hire people with lesser qualifications and experience.
      There are too many managers in relation to engineers. Consider improving the ratio or having managers do some technical work.

      Ocado Technology Response

      21 Feb 2019 – Social Media and Content Lead

      Thanks for the review. You've raised some interesting points,there's lots for us to look at. We'd like to encourage you to speak to your line manager if you feel you're not being challenged enough as... More

    6. Helpful (3)

      "If you don't fit the culture, you will never be happy"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ocado Technology full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Extreme cutting edge technology(for now) and lots to learn. Good benefits package and casual dress code. CEO is very capable and is building a strong company. Good for young engineers to cut their teeth in.

      Cons

      Huge cliquish culture. If you don't fit in, you will never belong and will be miserable. At best you get ignored or worse, completely ostracized.
      Jealousy between colleagues happens a lot. People will know what grade you are and they extrapolate on your benefits package based on that.
      Certain personality types will not fit into the culture.
      If you don't fit in with the managers idea of what is an ideal employee, be prepared for performance management plans with lofty goals which you have no idea of how to attain.
      Poor opportunities for growth or promotion, people with the weirdest people skills are promoted.
      HR seems to face significant turnover and feels highly inexperienced so don't expect experienced HR to help you out.
      Very poor work-life balance. Made worse by a policy of literally forbidding working from home, even though the software suites and working tools makes it very easy to work from home. Strong distrust ferments among colleagues if you ever win this concession.

      Advice to Management

      I distrust line and middle management so I'm not bothering. I can't reach upper management, not at the site I am based in so again I won't bother.

      Ocado Technology Response

      23 Dec 2018 – Social Media and Content Lead

      We're concerned to read about your experience of our culture as we work hard to be diverse and inclusive. We value your feedback and are keen to learn from it, so if you'd like to discuss this... More

    7. "Great place to work with friendly staff"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Development Manager in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Current Employee - Development Manager in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ocado Technology full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Great relaxed atmosphere where people strive to work together to produce high quality, technology leading solutions.
      People are very friendly and dress code very relaxed.
      Use of leading technology and agile methodologies,
      Constant training and improvement opportunities supported by a new career model.
      Excellent benefits package.

      Cons

      Lack of processses in some areas but this is being addressed.

      Ocado Technology Response

      30 Nov 2018 – Social Media and Content Lead

      Thanks for the review, we're pleased to see that where you have concerns they're being addressed.

    8. "OSP"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Ocado Technology full-time

      Pros

      Great international colleagues, dynamic work, exceptional collaboration

      Cons

      Poor line management and HR, unrealistic expectations of product, poor pay for junior roles and lack of respect by management. Unfair hiring processes and ill equipped HR

      Ocado Technology Response

      30 Nov 2018 – Social Media and Content Lead

      Thanks for your feedback – it's great to hear you enjoyed the work and collaborative culture but we'll pass on your Cons comments to see where we can improve.

    9. Helpful (1)

      "Great place with some caveat"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - IT Engineer in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Former Employee - IT Engineer in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Doesn't Recommend
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Ocado Technology full-time

      Pros

      Great place for new graduates, exposure to latest technologies, helpful teammates, some really nice people. Great communication from CEO and Sr leadership, gives you the feeling of togetherness. Great values and vision of Sr leadership.

      Cons

      Team leads/line managers are untouchables, because they joined Ocado many years before. Ocado values and code of conducts do not apply to them. Tend to hire those within their close networks. These hires are then favoured in promotion and high salary raises. Team leads frequently use profanity, often disrespectful, particularly to women, openly or covertly; high turnover of staff.

      Ocado Technology Response

      30 Nov 2018 – Social Media and Content Lead

      We're concerned to read your experiences with some team leads and will be passing this on for review. We can see you've left the company now, but if there's anything you'd like to report in more... More

    10. "A great place to work at"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - IT Team Lead in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Former Employee - IT Team Lead in Hatfield, East of England, England
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I worked at Ocado Technology full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Great culture, great atmosphere, great innovation, great education!

      Cons

      Very ambitious plans yet limited new-hire headcounts

      Advice to Management

      The non-flat, non-hierarchical structure of software engineer progression (SE1, SE2, SE3, etc) doesn't really work.

      Ocado Technology Response

      2 Nov 2018 – Social Media and Content Lead

      Thanks for the review, we're glad you enjoyed your time with us. Our structure is constantly under review by our Catalysts, so we appreciate the feedback.