Let me tell you about my worst job ever - Development Lab49 Employee Review

1.0
12 Feb 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Contrary to other reviews, pay is well above the average in the financial industry. However, please don't be swayed by this. Downsides include the 2008 MacBook you'll be paid to struggle with, and the working environment in the Gherkin, which is unpleasant, and often short of toilets.

Cons

Ah, the booming Death Knell of the Death March Project. I can only speak for London, where real talent, and more importantly, real dedication and commitment can be found amongst the troops on the ground. But in the world of company politics, the wrong people have won the war. The technical leadership are a joke, relying on confrontation to sustain them in their misassigned and misaligned roles. How long before these clowns are finally removed is anyone's guess. And delivery management (project management, to you and me) are simply disconnected from the people they need to, er, deliver. As alleged proponents of "Agile" software engineering, these guys can spend literally months "forward planning" - essentially, locked in a room, divining an order to a book of work that makes no logical sense to the engineers building it, and looking distinctly like a series of firmly frozen waterfalls. Fixed contracts don't need to be like this. I have never, ever, worked anywhere with such a high turnover of staff. During my time there, I saw almost 2 entire turnovers of the London engineering team. Seriously, can you find anything else like this on Glassdoor? This is not an environment where you will thrive. Ghastly - avoid at all costs. Save yourself.

Explore other reviews about Lab49

5.0
16 Sept 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Working groups around Blockchain, AI, and other interesting topics - Book Club - Open and transparent leadership team

Cons

- Uncertainty around what you will be working - Can do a great job on a project, and still be left on the bench when it is finished

2
4.0
26 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Hiring is well-gated, so you'll work with smart people. Projects are exclusively in finance so it's a great place to gain exposure in that industry. You operate with a good amount of autonomy.

Cons

It's a consulting company, so engineers are only valuable if they're billable. That means your success is tied to someone else's ability to secure a pipeline of work for you, or your own ability to upsell at your engagement - which may or may not be up to you no matter what you do. There isn't a dedicated sales team at Lab, so this can get spotty. Upper management's presence is felt in seasons - non-existant for months at a time, all over everything the next. They were nowhere to be found as AI got rolled out massively in 2026 and we got caught without a strategy and action plan - either for leveraging internally or for pivoting our model.

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