TNTP Reviews

Several reviews here on glassdoor talk about management at TNTP being hit or miss. I think that's exactly right. If you are considering a job with TNTP, absolutely ask about your manager and activate your network to learn more about this individual. I got a chance to work with a number of outstanding people at TNTP, and heard about other peoples' managers making them more effective. That was not my experience. I like to think I am generally pretty amiable and I am used to hard core urgency in other intense ed-reform organizations... and I found my manager so abrasive, condescending, and such a micromanager that it led to a sort of paralysis, and I quit. My manager had been a manager for a couple of years at TNTP when I started - I don't know if micromanagement had led to success with other employees or if this was something she wanted to try out with me. Some of my favorite quotes that she often repeated to me: "the best way to establish authority as a new manager, is to tell people what to do"; "you need to stop saying 'thank you,' it's their job - you're their boss"; and, anytime I completed a menial task, "I think this is SO SMART of you." I found this all to be somewhere between annoying and offensive, so I left.

- The virtual working environment isn't for everybody. Most of us work from home and when most of your interactions with colleagues are via email/conference call/video call, it can take longer to really feel like you have meaningful connections with your colleagues. I now have coworkers that I truly love and trust, but it took me a solid year to feel that way - when you go into a physical office those bonds form much more quickly. - Quality of experience as a staff member largely depends on the quality of your manager. TNTP values developing strong managers more than most orgs that I've worked for, but there is still a normal variance here - some folks are outstanding managers, most are at least solid, and some are not good. If you interview to work for TNTP, don't be afraid to ask really direct questions to the person that would be your manager, because your experience as a staff member will be hugely impacted by how well you work with that person.