ApexPC:
Comments I found very interesting:
Technical work is outsourced. (Whoa! That would account for a lack of continuity and no in depth product knowledge.)
No business ethics or strategy.
Cronyism. (The appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.)
1/3 of the employees are Vice Presidents. (The "To many chiefs, not enough Indians" syndrome. And, with cronyism all those chiefs may not actually be qualified to be a chief.)
Most of the software engineers don't have access to staging servers.
First of all, if you know me, you know I'm not a shill of WGT and I poke at their apparent weaknesses every chance I get. Mostly with humor. Secondly, as a former software developer myself for 12 years and manager of software development for 15 years I fully understand that aspect of WGT's business.
That said here's my view of the comments on WGT employee satisfaction above.
All of the negatives were posted by two former disgruntled employees who last worked at WGT in 2013 and 2011. Is that a good source of info? IMO they have an axe to grind.
"Technical work is outsourced. (Whoa! That would account for a lack of continuity and no in depth product knowledge.)" The actual former employee statement is "All interesting technical work is outsourced" Likely referring to WGT working with Exit Games, a leading service provider for multiplayer online and mobile games. Its product, Neutron, is a leading turn-key solution for the development and deployment of cross-platform gaming environments. Essentially WGT purchased server side software to manage multiplayer games on WGT. IMO an expedient decision in 2007 to get multiplayer games up and running. However, a candidate area for disconnect issues in MP games and should be covered with a long term support agreement between WGT and Exit Games.
"No business ethics or strategy." The opinion of a disgruntled former employee
"Cronyism" Term typically used in political appointments. The gaming industry has its own community. Hiring someone you've worked with at another company is common. You know them, you know what they can do. And WGT has a referral system in place to encourage hiring known performers.
"Most of the software engineers don't have access to staging servers." So they needed to send files to someone who does have access. What's the problem? In the start up days that could have been a cost saving technique. Or it could be a configuration management method to prevent unauthorized (I'm being nice) code from getting into a release. A lead designer gets to look at the code before getting into the new release.
"1/3 of the employees are Vice Presidents. (The "To (sic) many chiefs, not enough Indians" syndrome." The actual disgruntled former 2010 employee statement was "Top heavy - 10 VPs in a 30 person company"
They haven't been a 30 person company in years!
I have searched a popular, well-known, networking site for professionals and found this breakdown of employees of WGT. (Been doing this for years as I'm fascinated by what WGT does.)
There are 40 current WGT Media Employees on the site. (No doubt not all WGT Employees have joined that site so there's more than 40 at WGT)
4 Founders who are CEO, President, COO, and CTO
5 People with VP in their title
6 People with Director in their title
5 People with Manager in their title
6 People with no management title. Artist, writer, analyst
1 Person with Customer Support in their title (kinda figured that one)
2 People with QA in their title (not including the QA Manager)
6 Engineers working it appears on the Internet Golf and Baseball products
5 Engineers working it appears on the Mobile products
I'm old school, anyone with a supervisory title didn't write code or test. Under that school WGT has 20 managers supervising 20 workers. LOL
But I realize some jobs require an impressive title to get there phone calls returned. So lets say all the Managers and Directors actually produce something. Under the new school WGT has 9 people supervising 31 workers. A 3.4 to 1 ratio. Considering the company I worked for maintained a 10 to 1 ratio of management to workers I, from the old school now, consider WGTs ratio silly. I'd love to see an org chart.
Also, there are 27 former WGT employees listed on that site. No severe turnover problem on the engineers side. Technical Leads have 4 to 4 1/2 years of experience at WGT so the continuity and understanding is there. If anything, a bit understaffed on the engineer front and likely turnover occurs at the worst possible times. (although seldom a good time to lose an employee.
Strange only 2 former employees were disgruntled enough to post negative reviews. Which by the way actually included positives on WGT: "Great pay. Accomodating of work life balance and flexible scheduling."
Then there was a very positive review by another happy former employee:
"The
passionate exec and production teams strive for and achieve incredibly
high quality with minimal resources, making the work hard but very
rewarding. Like
any startup, there are so many more great ideas than time or money to
execute, so not so much a con as a realistic limitation."
WGT does not appear to treat their employees badly as claimed. Look at their perks from the WGT Jobs page:
Geez 100% paid medical, dinner, paid golf lessons? If anything employees are spoiled!
Getting too long here. Hope the paragraphing is sufficient.