The good days are long gone - Software Engineer Podium Employee Review

1.0
10 Aug 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Unlimited PTO (if you're not in sales) Huge focus on DEI (if you're into that kind of thing)

Cons

A lot of decisions that were made within the last 2 years had negative outcomes. This started when they hired a big name exec who helped push some new initiatives and changed our sales structure. After a few months, the exec was fired, but his name is still brought up to this day as a scapegoat. A few years ago, we never missed sales quota. It wasn't in our DNA. With that said, I can't recall the last time we actually hit our monthly sales quota. They laid off 12% of the company in December 2022, just before Christmas. At that time, they also announced they were removing our 401k match, the weekly Wednesday lunches, the weekly smoothies, our golf pass at Fox Hollow, an indoor golf simulator (that was purchased less than 1 year ago), and more. 1 month ago, they announced that the CEO wants all local employees within a 50 miles radius to come into the office Tuesday-Thursday starting August 15th. From what I gathered, the majority of local employees were not happy about this. We even had a Q&A with some execs where questions were asked about this, and received mostly canned responses and they deferred blame to the CEO. There was no data to back up why we had to go into the office, and it was admitted that us being remote for the past 3 years was effective, but they still would not give exemptions for people who did not want to or were unable to come in. After multiple town hall meetings over the last few months where the CEO was boasting about how good our numbers looked since the last layoffs and how our goal is to not have any other layoffs, we were all surprised when 23% of the company was once again laid off on Wednesday August 9th. I've heard that they also announced that the 401k match was back during the town hall meeting the following day. As someone who was at Podium during its "rocket ship" stage, I believe that those days are long gone.

Explore other reviews about Podium

5.0
29 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

This has been a great place to work. It can be a lot of pressure, which is probably right on the cusp where some find the pressure to be compelling, and others find it toxic. So, I get why some people may justifiably not like it. Not sure if there's a definitive line between toxic and compelling. But, I personally have found it compelling. The constant challenge pushes me and has helped me avoid complacency. There's always a new challenge and something new to learn. I have a lot of confidence in the leadership, both middle management and exec. To be transparent, I'm distant enough from execs that I'm isolated from any rumored drama or toxicity. But, I've been here for a while and have never experienced any of the rumored toxicity in my infrequent direct interactions with leadership. They make mistakes, but any time mistakes are made, they are pretty quick to learn from them and right the ship.

Cons

It's a lot less fun than it used to be. There used to be a lot more lighthearted fun and silliness in the culture. There used to be a lot more jokes and casual conversation in Slack and heckling in town hall. Thankfully the work is still fulfilling. Just... not very fun anymore. The pressure can be a lot. It requires a bit of thick skin. The pressure is good to push you beyond what you think is possible. But, you have to be able to be honest with yourself and management to be able to communicate reality when the expectations are completely unreasonable. I honestly think it's a good culture. But, only if you can find the balance between allowing yourself to be pushed to learn and improve, and being able to effectively communicate and pushback to prevent burnout. It would be miserable for those that are too scared to surface issues to management or push back on other teams. And it can't just be whining. Frankness and honestly is good (and in my experience, has always been appreciated). Whining is not helpful or good.

2.0
4 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Cool office building, learn from some of the best sales reps you’ll come across in your career

Cons

I worked at podium for a few years. It was the most toxic sales culture I’ve ever experienced. I do not say that lightly It was worth the money a year/two plus ago. They raised quotas multiple times in the last year and decreased the commission percentages. It is wild how many hoops an ae had to jump through to close a deal. In my 7+ of being in sales it was probably the hardest sale to close and I was a top rep. If you want to join podium it could be a good learning experience but it will come with a lot of headaches, anxiety about job security (they pip sales reps out like no other company I’ve ever worked for) and maybe some tears

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