Once a great studio with great talent, now mismanaged and exhausting - werkgeversreview Senior Software Engineer bij Striking Distance Studios

2,0
18 aug 2025
Aanbevelen
Goedkeuring directeur
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Pluspunten

Early leadership fostered creativity, collaboration, and strong team culture. Some engineers are paid competitively. Benefits were very good at the start (this has since been reduced/changed to very average benefits). Talented team members (though many have since left). The studio still has potential if leadership course-corrects.

Minpunten

Current leadership (under CEO Steve Papoutsis) makes top-down decisions without involving teams. Redundant meetings waste time instead of streamlining work. “Not mandatory” overtime, but heavily implied through the “inappropriate hours” Slack channel where leadership stays online in zoom meetings until the late evening, leaving feedback that feels like it requires immediate response. Severe pay disparities: some engineers earn fair wages, others are grossly underpaid for equal or greater workloads. Layoffs prioritized cutting those who voiced concerns/opinions to leadership or who didn’t put in late-night hours, regardless of talent or contributions. Most of the great leadership and talent left after being overworked and underpaid.

Ontdek andere reviews over Striking Distance Studios

5,0
24 okt 2025
Aanbevelen
Goedkeuring directeur
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Pluspunten

Flexible teams, awesome people, passionate leadership

Minpunten

None that I know of

3,0
20 aug 2025
Anonieme werknemer
Aanbevelen
Goedkeuring directeur
Zakelijk vooruitzicht

Pluspunten

-Projects are cool -People are cool -People are extremely talented -Overall a good place to work

Minpunten

-Despite being a small team, there is a giant silo between leadership and the rest of the team. This causes lots of communication breakdowns which are made up for with an abundance of meetings. -Leadership dislikes when ideas are questioned at times, but encourages being questioned. It's a double edge sword. -Sometimes development cycles get burned needlessly fully implementing an idea instead of questioning at the outset. -Bonuses and raises only handed to a select few regardless if employees meet their goals. It makes the highly structured, time and energy consuming review process pretty much pointless.

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