Lab49 Reviews

Pros

Event with the awful historical reviews, I decided to give it a try and joined Lab49 in LDN. It seems most of the tensions were in the past and localised to NY. + biggest part of the LDN team joined within the last year. people are nice and always eager to help. + focus on up-skilling individuals and keeping up-to-date on tech (I really appreciate this since I used to have to do it in my own time) + fast paced, big...

Cons

- office coffee is kinda crap

Pros

Looks like most of the reviews on here are people who worked at lab when it was taken over by ION, it's a common pattern as their model is to purchase companies and cut them to the bone by forcing employees out. Very few people are left from the pre-ION days in London so it's pretty much a clean slate as they are rebuilding from scratch. Compared to working for ION, Lab49 is very pleasant, laidback place to work although...

Cons

Don't expect exciting projects, London is very much a satelite office these days so you'll generally be supporting offshore teams which limits the type of projects which can be taken on.

Advice to Management

Be realistic about what the company is these days.

Pros

You get an macbook in a nice office with a games room and free food plus drinks every Friday, there's lots of benchtime so plenty of opportunities for personal learning, they are very flexible on the hours you do in office as most projects are run out of India.

Cons

Parent company Ion is a horrible place to work, benefits are low and they have zero respect for women. Many people are still listed as working for lab49 even though they left long ago as they are scared of repercussions, the actual number of engineers at the firm outside of India is very small.

Advice to Management

Get the basics right, make it a civil place to work, remove threats like withholding references and maybe people will actually want to join again.

Pros

If not working on ION systems you have lots of freedom to use the latest technologies in greenfield projects. No support Flexible on hours

Cons

Benefits very poor compared to other similar companies Bonus late and small HR very disorganized, even getting paid can sometimes be a struggle Good chance they'll refuse to give you a reference Bored long standing business members sleeping at desk during day

Advice to Management

Explain to ION you need to compete with banks on salary/bonus to be able attract/keep talent

Pros

Contracts are limited to the financial space which can provide in depth exposure to interesting work. Top notch talent and collaborative environment provides opportunity to learn and grow. Many "underground" perks like nicely stocked kitchen, flexible work arrangements, mobile phone subsidy and fairly regular happy hours. Contracts can be short term which allows variety. Treated as a pro.

Cons

Contracts can be short which generates 'flux'. Transitional office vibe due to people working from home or at client sites. Doesn't cultivate a "one team" spirit if that's important to you.

Advice to Management

Prior to joining, I had a lot of apprehension based primarily on things I'd read on Glassdoor. I can honestly say, my concerns were allayed within just a few months of joining. The DC office is very professional without a hint of toxicity. Communication is good and the monthly All Hands help a lot with gaining visibility into other projects and offices. All in all keep it up. The one change I'd recommend is to...

Pros

Looks good on resume because of reputation for tech talent consultants have

Cons

Luke Flemmer, AP, et al suck. They are HORRIBLE PEOPLE who could care less about you and your career. People are commodities nothing more. Leading by fear is weak and very 2008. I'll be here another 6 months then I'm out.

Advice to Management

It's 2019. Stop being misogynists and PAY MARKET RATE. Notice how many people have left? Wonder why?

Pros

Work with excellent engineers on interesting projects Exposed to variety of technologies Excellent pay/bonuses (at least in my experience) Lots of people promoted every year I was there (I was promoted twice)

Cons

Parent company totally disconnected, but mostly they left us alone. Sometimes very last minute assignment changes, more often than I would expect.

Advice to Management

Be open about salaries and transparent about raises/bonuses.

Pros

Office view and free snacks

Cons

Everything. People are unfriendly and rude. Every person is protecting his own work and withholding information. Senior Management teams has people who can't even sell toilet paper and try to act like they are "technically savvy and know how to manage" There are also useless new college grads who obviously cannot get jobs elsewhere act like they're are God's gift to people

Advice to Management

Nothing as they are not capable of improvement

Pros

The people are the main reason I stay here. Bright, engaged and passionate about their work. I think it's a rare chance to work with people who are experts in their field. Lots of interesting and challenging projects to work on. .

Cons

Colleagues are at different projects around the city and can't see them as often as you would like - so you need to be intentional about connecting when you are both in the home office.

Advice to Management

Keep improving communication about company goals and direction so we can all be on board. Town hall meetings are usually very helpful and inspiring.

Pros

Met some good people (but they've all abandoned ship)

Cons

Consulting grinds you down. No training, no learning. Too many late nights and weekends. Paltry bonus, if one was even granted. Dead end.

Advice to Management

Retire.