Pros
- The People: So many great people were working across the development, sales, marketing, and customer success team when I was at BridgeU. They were the heart and soul of the company as is often the case. - Working Flexibility: Something not mentioned in many of these reviews is that the ability to work remotely and to a relatively flexible schedule is a big plus. - The Office Space: Conveniently located and nice to be around/in. - Benefits: Health insurance was a winner for me with Vitality coming as standard for all employees I knew of. Holiday allowance was pretty standard for a start-up but I've been at places that offer only 4 weeks so more than this is still nice.
Cons
- Management: Unfortunately there is a high level of mistrust in the culture of this company. It has been detailed in other reviews but I think it needs to be reiterated as the headline. An example of this was when an 'anonymous feedback session' was offered to the team to give their views on the company. This feedback session was conducted by someone external from the main company and the employees were told the answers would go no further. This was to give people a 'safe-space' to voice their opinions honestly. Results from this feedback session were then relayed to the CEO and at least one of my colleagues was threatened with things that were brought up in a supposedly anonymous space. Totally unacceptable in my view. - Low Development/Wages: I think there's a misplaced belief that talking about silicon valley culture and creating a buzz around rapid growth assuages the concerns of many new hires when it comes to low wages or a lack of development. It does not. - Broken Promises: Many of those in the team were repeatedly promised wage increases, stock options, promotions, management, training and a host of other things that never materialised. This was very demotivating. - Micromanagement: Decision-making is decidedly top-down with only the illusion of choice for those outside the SLT. It is not to be expected that a company is a democracy, but if a company of this size can't trust its staff to make decisions then they will be destined to be slow-moving in their responses to new problems in the fast paced world of Ed-Tech startups. - Handling of Ex-Employees: As mentioned in the Pro's column, BridgeU often hires enthusiastic and enterprising young team members. It is a shame then that so many in my time there were stifled and eventually fired or left. It is one thing to lose good people but another to treat them with disdain. When popular or successful people leave questions are asked at the ground level and need to be answered openly by those at the top. Avoiding this and treating people badly on the way out has made many resentful and led to further flight of talent. - SLT Delusions: At first I was scared to speak out on Glassdoor, for fear of losing a future reference. But in the end, I wrote this review as I believe that other positive reviews here have been written by Senior Team Leaders. I don't know about their intentions, but I don't think they're malicious. I don't believe many people are, at their core, bad. We're all struggling along. They probably just want to keep the ship floating, and I think the company is by no means unsalvageable. From a culture or a product perspective. People can change. However, there is a lot of denial about the problems going on. I hope someone in charge reads this and takes it on board. For their sake as well as everyone else's.
