Underpaid, chaos management regarding salary/vacation - Senior Software Engineer Helmes Employee Review

1.0
12 Mar 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Normal out sourcing company with no obvious pros

Cons

First of all, underpaid a lot. One year later, they agreed to raise 30% based on my performance, but even after that it is still way underpaid. Since I submitted my resignation later than the raise, they refused to give me the raise, even if it was only 1 month, because I was leaving. I started on January and took a vacation in February, they didn't use my full monthly salary to calculate the vacation compensation, but rather, less than that. By Estonian law you are obliged to take a two-week paid vacation every year, but they only pay 10 days of salary instead of 14 days, while they deduct your total vacations by 14 days. I've been working in other Estonian companies and it's not the case. In some of their clients, they even force you to take a 1-week vacation, counted as 7 days, rather than 5 days, which is not forced by Estonian work law at all. I have a friend who worked in the same company before and he also left later on. Not recommended; even if this was your first job in another country, seriously, consider something else.

Explore other reviews about Helmes

5.0
25 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great team culture with a strong sense of ownership. Everyone in the team has a real voice and meaningful impact on decisions and results. Supportive colleagues, professional environment, and interesting projects. I cannot speak for the whole company, but my personal experience with my team has been very positive.

Cons

The hiring process was quite long and sometimes confusing. I was considered for multiple teams and projects, and some projects did not eventually start. At one point, I was unsure whether the process would lead anywhere because there were many transitions between different opportunities.

4.0
22 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Usually projects are long term and stable. As Helmes targets public sector / governmental projects. Helmes has a roadmap for self-growth and it is possible to grow professionally. Also, in cases where the client of some project has to cut its development budget then Helmes tries to allocate developers to other existing projects.

Cons

Teams are like micro-companies within one building. Teams do not interact with each other as Helmes as a company encourages more team events than company level activities. There are no company summer days.

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