Uptake Reviews

2.9

42% would recommend to a friend

(262 total reviews)

Adam McElhinney

77% approve of CEO

32% positive business outlook

Uptake has an employee rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars, based on 262 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Uptake employee rating is 25% below average for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

262 reviews
2.0
16 Jan 2018

Talented crews led by cheap and ignorant management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A lot of things to learn if you are new grads. A lot of young and smart people who are enthusiastic at what they are doing. Casual working environment. Snacks and drinks Flexible PTO and WFH policy for most department.

Cons

Incompetent management: many high level management have no clue what motivates employee and how to make good products. It is quiet obvious from recent events that existing customers are not happy with what Uptake is doing. low-ball payment to experienced employee. No bonus, ridiculous stock options for a startup. They claim to offer market average but do not take into consideration of experience. Senior (and great) employees with 4 ~ 10+ years more experience may receive about 10k ~ 30k more than fresh graduations with similar education. Evaluation: for some department there is no clear career vertical advancement. Self-evaluation may be modified to worse without notice after 1-1 meet between manager and subordinate. backstabbing: manager who has no experience or clue would put himself to more projects and replace capable employees, with no notice. lack of professionalism: manager leak performance information to peers. Aggressive and unnecessary interference of projects to suit the need of management.

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Uptake Response
8y
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Some definite feedback that we can leverage and improve upon and some that unfortunately just isn’t factual or true. Clearly you aren’t experiencing Uptake to its full potential. It might be beneficial for you to have a direct conversation with someone in leadership or even with our People team to better understand how senior management makes decisions in running a growing and successful company. We are here to help and provide clarity.
2.0
9 Apr 2016

Practice What You Preach

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Uptake is probably one of the coolest companies that I've ever worked for. The people are highly intelligent and great to be around. Of course, there are ego's but for the most part, the people are amazing. Many of the benefits are good too. For a company that is growing insanely fast, I do give them credit for trying to preserve the culture of the company. That's tough when you want to remain a start-up but your customers need you to grow up. Where do you find balance? The outcome remains to be seen but I give them credit for trying. Unlimited PTO, free snacks, free beer, lunch allowance, and a few other perks make Uptake a pretty decent place.

Cons

One could argue that the "cons" of Uptake are because it's a start-up, however, Uptake is far from start-up. Don't let them tell you otherwise. There is nothing start-up about this company anymore. The culture/vibe has quickly become one that is stuffy/political and corporate in nature. Whether that's good or bad for the future of the company remains to be seen. One of the biggest cons is the lack of transparency and incessant secrecy. For a company who preaches clarity and trust, there are far too many cliques where information is only shared if you're "in" and even if you think you're in, you will soon find out that you're not and be left in the dark about something that directly impacts you and your ability to do your job. Even as a manager, you are kept in the dark about things that impact your team. That secrecy mentality starts at the top of the organization and works its way down. Ready to be thrown under the bus by people who are either intimidated by you or choose to not like you simply because they have nothing better to do with their lives? Gonna happen; so be prepared. Another con is how they reward/pay people. For starters, there is no logic to how people are paid other than who you know and more often than not, what school you went to. Grant it a year ago, Uptake was a start-up and you took a risk coming but like many people who go to work for start-ups, you had faith in the CEO and their vision. You know/felt/hoped that if you worked your butt off and helped them realize their vision, you would be rewarded. At Uptake,you quickly learn that the faith you had and the bill of goods they sold you in recruiting would amount to disappointment. People give their lives and time to this company to build something just a year ago didn't exist and yet if you are not "one of the cool kids", they will either find a way to get rid of you or give you an insulting pay increase and then not care two cents if you decide to walk away. Loyalty? Yeah...not in the Uptake Lexicon.

1.0
2 Feb 2017

Software engineer

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Unlimited PTO, Snacks, and lots of swag - work life balance: most engineers work 30 hour weeks because there isn't a product. You can leave at 4pm

Cons

- employees are told to post fake Glassdoor reviews to hide real ones - it's obvious. Last few have been 5 stars to hide real ones from my friends that left uptake - No product or real customers - CPO lies to CEO about status of product - politics are unbelievable - hunger games - smart people have left or are in the process of leaving - anyone that's paying attention will leave before the Uptake bubble bursts. I am trying to get out. - did I mention - no product? - CEO is disconnected and doesn't understand how to build a software company. If he did, we would have a product after 2 years.

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Uptake Response
9y
Thank you for your feedback and your candor. We take these posts seriously and seek to learn from our team members' feedback. As most of these reviews point out, we are a very young company and growing at a rapid speed. That growth and pace of change can contribute to an evolving understanding of the state of our operations. We encourage you to address your concerns with your team lead or come to talk a member of the People team about what we can do to help improve your individual experience. We’re committed to building a company where employee input is valued and taken into consideration.
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Glassdoor has 294 Uptake reviews submitted anonymously by Uptake employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Uptake is right for you.