Tech lead role exists to inflate the ego of engineers who can't coach - Senior Software Engineer HubSpot Employee Review

2.0
22 Mar 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I have been at HubSpot for a long time and at this point in time, there is probably a 25% chance you have a Tech Lead who takes ownership for their role and team and is invested in the development and coaching of their individual contributors. If you get one of these tech leads, you can feel confident you will be in good hands and receive actionable and valuable feedback. There are strong mentors and empathetic people at HubSpot, but in 2023 those in management roles are rare. If you're on a good team with a good TL, it's possible you won't know how bad it is on other teams.

Cons

Tech leads have no ownership or responsibility for their team. Problems that occur are treated as the fault of individual contributors and not the tech lead responsible for training them. Tech leads do not know how to be invested in the growth of their engineers. I wish I could share some of the feedback and reasons for termination I've seen peers be given. People are being humiliated in public slack channels and their feedback/reasons for termination are lists of pedantic communication points with no proof the tech lead ever tried to coach or help them. These tech leads are often strong engineers who were put in the tech lead role out of necessity and treat the role as a boosting of their own ego. Many lack empathy, patience, and grit to be a people manager or coach. There should be a reason these roles are paid what they are, but many of these TLs are failing in their role. I do many interviews and have long been a promoter of HubSpot. I have been grateful for how HubSpot has helped me grow myself. But what I have seen in public channels and behind the scenes to colleagues shows that this is not an environment in which people will be invested in. Your growth is not important here - only for other engineers to inflate their own egos. I've become embarrassed to work here, and I think it's not long before this is the reputation of HubSpot as a whole in the tech sphere.

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5.0
4 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work life balance Lovely colleagues Good salary pay out

Cons

Disruptions of ai - Saaspocalypse How the company pivot in the next 1-2 years will be crucial

2.0
22 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The teams you work with are phenomenal. The knowledge combination between an internal customer facing teams, engineering product development teams, and Sales are unmatched.

Cons

Excessive use of PIPs to oust employees after multiple high revenue launches, with no explanation, actual documentation, or factual data. Reviews have been adjusted to allow for terminations post pre-approved leaves. Salaries are a joke. You are always in a cover yourself mode 24/7. Management reviews are consistently a 2 or 3 out of 5 no matter what. If a team decides you aren’t in the group, management will put you on a “unofficial” PIP without telling you, in order to surprise you at a later date. Even if they are unfounded. Beware of possibility of negative backlash post launches. They will feel the need to assign blame ( such as for timelines or issues related to bugs). Regardless of performance or level of involvement. This is an enormous company with many large paths for career advancement. But micro management is rampant, leaving little room for doing the daily expectations of your actual role. This degrades your opportunities for career advancement.

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