Most inept and hostile work environment I've ever worked in - Software Engineer Sircles Employee Review

1.0
7 Aug 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Management is inspiring. They show how incapable you can be but still "have a company". Whether it's successful is another thing, but they really do set how low the bar can be to have your own business.

Cons

Severely underpaid: For how much the CEO brags about how rich he is, one would be wise to observe how little the people around him have. I was paid less than half of market rate. Unbelievably cheap: We're talking posting ads on Craigslist as gigs to avoid paying the $20 job fee listing cheap. Dishonest: We were promised equity stake. I had to beg for something in writing, and got a document plastered with how it wasn't a "legal" document, and provided a share amount, but without providing a percentage of ownership or a number of total shares of the company. Clearly deliberate so that they could dilute it to however they wanted to make sure our shares were as worthless as they wanted them to be. They also couldn't manage to even spell my name right on the document. Hostile: - CEO would be regularly verbally abusive. He even called me after my employment ended to harass me, to which I had to file a police report for. Clearly didn't have parents that taught him any manners. - The COO (head of HR at the time) also called me when I tried to hire an attorney for the harassment, abuse, and work violations while employed and told me that "[The CEO] has a lot of money..." in an undertone that I interpreted that was implying they were going to put a hit out on me for trying to exercise my legal rights. Of course, he also made sure to ask whether I was recording the call before threatening me, since California is a two-party state. In the end, they hired one of the biggest defense firms in the state and conflated things like the CEO sending me home continuously without pay to unpaid time I took to travel during back and forths.

Explore other reviews about Sircles

5.0
8 Apr 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are plenty of things I like about this company, and the original company that the founders started to fund it with. How they treat the team has been a contrast from my previous employers. Yeah, we have to work pretty hard but they ensure we're given all we need and care and have helped me on a personal level at times that it was not needed. They've gone out of their way to make sure my opinions are heard and I get a say in how we progress. I can summarize all the positive in one phrase: they'll give back to you what you put into the company. That's so rare to find in companies nowadays.

Cons

You'd better be willing to focus hard every single day on creative problem solving, or this place probably isn't cut out for you. There's no shortage of work and the pace is always high. If that's your thing, then this might not be a con.

5.0
23 Jan 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Most fulfilling job I've had in my 8 year tech career. Able to lead projects from scratch. I have creative freedom in my approach to feature creation as long as it fulfills the purpose management wants in the end. Small team where everyone is a 10x, perhaps the most autonomously working team I've ever worked with as well. Compensation (cash + equity) is good considering the size/funding/burn of the company. We created fair and concrete objective-based cash and equity incentives (plus growth plans) during negotiation.

Cons

I was aware of this ahead of time, but be prepared for long days and long working sessions. Management promises they will never ask someone to work more than they do and they have held true to it in my time there. Be ready to pivot frequently, not recommended for anyone that needs to stay focused heads-down during the day.

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