Sphero Reviews

Sphero looked really good from the outside, but it was the most depressing job I've ever had. The Marketing and Creative teams are a mess. - I was told "if you want a job at Sphero, just start doing it," but that's not the case at all. The people who get promoted are based off of a sad game of favorites and not off merit. - My boss undermined many of my efforts, which was a common complaint on the marketing team as a whole. - There's no team fostering or any motivation to work together. The whole company has an "every man for himself" ethos. - Upper management is aloof, they don't regularly meet with their teams and don't have much clue about the day to day. - For being a company centered around technology, they don't embrace it. Every team uses different systems and nobody has the authority to make decisions about how to make the technology streamlined. - There's literally no methodology for conflict resolution. - My manager told me there was absolutely 0% chance for further career growth in the company. - The company is losing money and removing benefits. - They intentionally promote people with NO management skills and provide no help for the teams.

- Founders sidelined - not in-charge nor directing the company. - "Serial entrepreneur" CEO and CFO moved in and reshaped the company, no long-term vision beyond cashing out. - CFO is head of the technical side, runs the tech like an accountant. - Experienced (older, higher-paid) veteran engineers, pressured to move on. - CFO has fragile ego, does not handle challenges to his authority (say goodbye), even painted Orwellian signs, with slogans like "leave your ego at the door" on the walls, in huge letters. - Not a place to work if you have an ego. Think about that, John Galt! - Tension between moving jobs from (expensive) Boulder to (cheap) overseas. - Projects are not managed well, as evidenced by crunch-time for every product release. - Lip service, but no commitment to development of any really cool in-house robot technology. (Bummer) - No career progression plan. Employees stonewalled when asked about career paths. - No formal, written employee reviews. - HR is not on your side. - Open office, with everyone packed together, always watching everyone else, is not always fun. - Overall, it feels like the company is racing to the bottom of the toy business.