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Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

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Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#71

Post by kogepathic »

kzisme wrote: post #37
pgt wrote: post #18

Cutting of catered lunches is a strong signal that the company is in a cash crunch. You can try to propose a weekly catered lunch at your company to "encourage communication" and watch it is a signal. In the past I instituted weekly catered lunches at a company, which were halved from weekly to bi-weekly the moment finance knew there was trouble. Other indicators: delayed salary reviews, senior staff leaving (and not…

How often do salary reviews generally occur for someone working as a developer (or IT I suppose?)

> How often do salary reviews generally occur for someone working as a developer (or IT I suppose?)

It's served me well to have at least one interview per year with a different company in your field to see what they're offering. Doing this has really helped me understand what the market is willing to pay for my skills, and has more than once caused me to shift the direction of my career because the work they were doing was interesting enough that I switched jobs.

You don't necessarily have to accept the job, and I would caution against switching jobs every single year, but I've definitely found the experience helpful. It also forces you to keep your CV up to date, and it's also great interview practice. I've definitely taken lessons learned from my various interviews and applied them to interviewing candidates for our company.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#72

Post by michaelgburton »

One tip I have from years in a company that was undergoing major changes in its business model is to pay attention to other workers. In my case, the shop floor guys at an automation company smelled the shift in the wind long before anyone else, and weren't afraid to call it out. When the vast majority (maybe 500-1k machinists) were let go in rapid succession, it was shocking...except if you'd paid attention.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#73

Post by 0x4f3759df »

How fragmented is the industry? A fragmented industry is waiting for a well capitalized player to consolidate small companies into a industry leader. How close the founder is to retirement... As the founder approaches age 65, he might be looking to cash out.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#74

Post by kogepathic »

shimon wrote: post #54

One simple thing missing in most of these replies: ask questions. Ask your boss, ask your peers, ask the CEO now and then. - How is the company doing against its goals for the year? - What does our runway look like? - What signs of product success are we expecting? What are we seeing? Note that in any company, and especially in a startup, all of these questions are rife with uncertainty and stress. You should expect…

> Optimism disconnected from reality is either an attempt to mislead you or a sign of blindness to results.

This is so important. If management is continually pitching a story which you don't see reflected in the work you're doing, or the progress you're making, then it's time to think deeply whether management is out of touch with reality.

That's one of my biggest signs that it's time to leave a company. If management is ignorant to the progress of the company, or continuously gets it wrong, it's time to find yourself new management.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#75

Post by ams6110 »

kzisme wrote: post #37
pgt wrote: post #18

Cutting of catered lunches is a strong signal that the company is in a cash crunch. You can try to propose a weekly catered lunch at your company to "encourage communication" and watch it is a signal. In the past I instituted weekly catered lunches at a company, which were halved from weekly to bi-weekly the moment finance knew there was trouble. Other indicators: delayed salary reviews, senior staff leaving (and not…

How often do salary reviews generally occur for someone working as a developer (or IT I suppose?)

I've seen: never; yearly; semi-annually;

In the "never" case, not that you never got a raise, but that there was no "review" component. Just a notice of your new salary.

When I was working for a big consultancy (many years ago) it was common to get a review after rolling off of a client engagement.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#76

Post by jaymzcampbell »

My main thing is are they at all organised as a whole - if everything is in disarray and departments have no idea (or interest in) what the others are doing then it's likely going to be very painful. A company that is pulling in one direction is an exciting place.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#77

Post by scarface74 »

I've given another answer, but on the meta level, it shouldn't matter to you if a company is doing well. The only thing that should matter is are you learning skills for which there is a market? Getting in the mindset that your "job" does not determine your well being but your skills do.

That mindset presupposes a few things:

A) that you always have your finger on the market and the skills that are in demand

B) your network is strong - including recruiters.

C) You live below your means and have enough in liquid savings to survive a job loss and getting a new job.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#78

Post by alex440440 »

Me and people close to me been a witness to a startup demise several times. In a startup it's really easy to tell - the product falls short of revenues/active users expectations, the funding starts to run out, the management starts to act frantic and invents all kinds of "creative" ways to "revive" the product, core team members start departing :)

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#79

Post by ams6110 »

kevinmannix wrote: post #68

When growth numbers are consistently not hit. Always push for transparency at a smaller company - if there isn't one already, attempt to implement an all-hands meeting at least bi-weekly that reviews goals for the quarter / year and the company's progress. If direction is constantly changing at a 1 or 2 month cadence, it's likely that there may be a shakeup coming sooner rather than later. It's wise to have a bit of…

It's really hard to tell as an employee.

Management can blow sunshine at these kind of meetings and you'd need second sight to see the truth.

Last time I was at a company that suddenly imploded everything was great one week, and then a week later half the staff got laid off.

Re: Ask HN: As an employee of a company, how do you assess its health?

#80

Post by ethbro »

I think employees are a lagging indicator. If the product is being offered at all, look at customers.

If you're not customer-facing, talk to a customer-facing engineer or even account manager. "How's the X account?" "Tell me about a customer we've made successful." Don't accept "The account is fine." Drill down and ask for details; they're the only things that matter.

You're internal, so unless your company is really $&#+ed up and silo'd, you shouldn't have a problem getting a feel with a modicum of social skills.

If you're not making customers happy, and management is proceeding with business as usual, start looking for a new job.

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