Tech Open Air Reviews

- Salary is very bad, no usual startup perks e.g. free food, German courses etc. Getting paid less than minimum wage. - Not enough space to work from. Not enough desks or equipment. No training or grace period to become familiar with new technologies and programs. - Employees expected to stay very late each evening with no extra overtime pay. Some people stayed past midnight. - Felt pressured into working overtime, late nights and weekends. - None of my feedback was listened to. There was no space for constructive criticism. - Changes that directly affect my role were made without informing me. Sometimes I found out after they were made. It looked like I was incapable of doing my job properly when I was actually just completely misinformed. - Some team members had business cards and some did not. This suggested favouritism of team members. - Many contracts had to be rewritten because agreed upon terms were altered in contracts.

Ok. Now down to the nitty gritty parts. Lets start with the money - it's not the best. I'll give you a tip - don't accept anything lower than minimum wage (I wish I didnt have to actually write that). Management was a mixture of over management/ no management/ and the wrong management but things are stepping in 2017 as they have hired some great people to add to the mix. Some staff in particular may not get all the attention they feel they deserve (see previous reviews) - this is because some departments make money and some don't and when money takes a priority that can leave a lot of other people feeling left behind. The office dog is 100% racist but if you're white she is lovely. (It's ok, she's rarely actually in the office). (This is a joke so please dont not apply in fear of Emmy!) I would still 100% recommend TOA though, especially if you are new to the city. Out of 56 full timers we probably had half as many nationalities. And by the end of TOA we probably had twice as many crazy stories. Treat TOA as a short term gig - afterwards everyone goes on to very good companies with most likely great recommendations and if you get asked to stay you have a choice to or not. But don't count on it. TOA is a game of Snakes and Ladders, it has it ups and downs like any other company but at the end of the day its far more fun than working for a company that doesn't have this huge event coming up over the horizon. Do it.