Leadership is actively destroying this company - Staff Software Engineer WillowTree Employee Review

1.0
19 Jul 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The last 6 months? Can’t think of any.

Cons

One we went public it was game over. Literally within months the changes started coming. Layoffs, benefits cut, lack of transparency. It’s all coming to a head. Most recently, leadership has said that they are capping flexible time off (but to my knowledge is not sharing this information publicly— they are telling managers to tell their teams). The pipeline does not look good, the general sentiment within our project teams is dread. The company that used to be WT is now but a shell.

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WillowTree Response
2y
I understand the frustration around layoffs. Believe me it was the last thing we wanted to do. I can assure you however this has zero to do with our acquisition. For better or worse, this was a decision taken by me and the leadership team to position us for being able to invest in long term growth in emerging sectors like AI while there was a well documented significant pull back in companies investing in their digital initiatives. The good news is that the difficult decisions we made are showing significant results as we enter the second half of the year and can refocus on making WT the amazing place to work it has always been. -TD

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5.0
29 May 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great opportunity, take hirevue seriously

Cons

No cons, love this internship

3.0
29 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lots of really nice, and smart people who are very collaborative and excited to share their knowledge. This is not a prestigious place to work, so I was a bit surprised by just how smart and competent people are at WillowTree or TELUS Digital, whatever our name is. The offices are great and the office culture is ridiculously good. Huge shoutout to the employees (it's def not upper management) who go out of their way to make the office culture great. Depending on what project you're on, it can be a pretty chill place to work. If you're early in your career and need experience, the variety of projects makes this a genuinely good opportunity.

Cons

The biggest con is the compensation. It's so terrible, and far below the industry standard that I don't really see how anyone could stay here long term. They don't give raises, no one is getting promotions. There's also quite a lot of restructuring going on, and very poor communication about it. Which is par for the course in the tech industry at this point, but worth noting. It feels relatively stable for now, but I really have trouble seeing how their tech services division is going to survive as AI decreases the cost to build software. Plus, tech services as part of TELUS Digital doesn't really make any sense long term. It's a contact center business with a bunch of people that randomly make expensive mobile apps? It seems to be making enough money for now to keep going, but I feel like that could change any moment.

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