5 ms·

Do people generally still put any value in Glassdoor reviews? These types of behaviors on the site aren’t new.

by cebert 3y ago

hardware2win 3y ago
I think the only reviews I somewhat value are Steam reviews
- Etheryte 3y ago
  The only review I trust for any company is a random stranger commenting on HN.
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    There are alot of threads about X where there are kinda probable insiders writing lame positive stuff about the X thing. Like "that is really cool" or interested leading questions about it, when there is no way people here would naturally write it in such an optimistic manner.
  - oblio 3y ago
    I have bad news for you, marketing teams and co have alerts set up for key words and there's a reason tech evangelists exist. HN is actively targeted for advertising.
    - saagarjha 3y ago
      You don’t even need advertising for this place to be useless. Do you think everyone singing the praises for e.g. Rust here is using it in production?
    - Etheryte 3y ago
      This is true for any large website and doesn't reduce the value of said comments in my opinion. It's pretty easy to distinguish a honest summary of a company from marketing praise.
passwordoops 3y ago
Yes, especially non-engineers, like everyone in my family. It's why every HR I've encountered has asked employees to put a positive review on the site
maccard 3y ago
Yes. I treat Glassdoor reviews the same as I do hotel reviews or restaurant reviews - look at the reviews where people are positive but have criticisms, and look to see if those criticisms have a trend in the reviews (or if some reviews even tell people that thing is a positive - "difficult work life balance" "high pressure rewarding environment) If they're all positive (or negative) then that's a sign there's something wrong.
lordnacho 3y ago
[flagged]
- ggm 3y ago
  God give me strength, this is patronising. Do you really believe only the HN cognoscenti know they're being gamed?
  - etothepii 3y ago
    No, but I do believe that working with computers all day rewires your brain.
  - lordnacho 3y ago
    It's not meant to be patronizing, it's just a fact that people who spend a bunch of time reading about tech are going to hear about things before people who don't. It also makes sense that reviews would have signal. It's not like people are dumb, they were just born in an earlier world where reviews would actually have some reputation attached to them. Movies, restaurants, concerts, that kind of stuff would be reviewed by someone capable of writing and filtered through a newspaper editor. Now things have changed and it takes some time for everyone to figure it out.
    - 2devnull 3y ago
      If reviews “have some signal” then wouldn’t it be more clever to learn to make use of that signal rather than dismiss as entirely worthless?
      - lordnacho 3y ago
        I said it makes sense that they have signal, not that they have signal. Like it makes sense that shaving makes your beard grow, it just turns out not be what actually happens.
  - neilv 3y ago
    In this particular case... HNers tend to be familiar with tech industry business models and investment models, more than the average person who doesn't work in tech. So I think it's plausible we'll tend to have a somewhat better awareness of the dynamics around reviews that are posted online. (But I don't think we're more savvy about the world in general. If anything, we tend to have STEM-like narrower exposure to the world than many, coupled with the overconfidence that comes from income level.)
knallfrosch 3y ago
Yes, ignore all ratings and read the review content. You can spot pain points, such as missing remote-flexibility, or bad incentives, or impossible deadlines, or bad equipment, or lousy onboarding, micromanagement, meetings late in the day, racism (like in Tesla factories).. Reading reviews helps you understand what you should pay attention to. You might take some things for granted that the company completely violates. You can then use your knowledge to ask specific questions during the job interview. Like: "What's your remote work policy and please put 5 days at home in my contract." Or you could spot the open office with old computers. As Tolstoy put it: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" And it's up to you to spot a specific unhappiness at any given company.
clnq 3y ago
Yes, I mostly look at critical reviews and really pay attention to things mentioned by a few employees in different words. I usually do this while interviewing, so I am only interested in the negative takes as the company will readily tell me every positive aspect they can boast of. Just apply a bit of common sense to the comments and they will be a great source of insight. Some things they say can even be verified elsewhere (like if people from management keep getting into harassment lawsuits, if the company mistreats its clients, and similar).

Do people generally still put any value in Glassdoor reviews? These types of behaviors on the site aren’t new.

by cebert 3y ago

Do people generally still put any value in Glassdoor reviews? These types of behaviors on the site aren’t new.

hardware2win 3y ago

I think the only reviews I somewhat value are Steam reviews

Etheryte 3y ago
The only review I trust for any company is a random stranger commenting on HN.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  There are alot of threads about X where there are kinda probable insiders writing lame positive stuff about the X thing. Like "that is really cool" or interested leading questions about it, when there is no way people here would naturally write it in such an optimistic manner.
- oblio 3y ago
  I have bad news for you, marketing teams and co have alerts set up for key words and there's a reason tech evangelists exist. HN is actively targeted for advertising.
  - saagarjha 3y ago
    You don’t even need advertising for this place to be useless. Do you think everyone singing the praises for e.g. Rust here is using it in production?
  - Etheryte 3y ago
    This is true for any large website and doesn't reduce the value of said comments in my opinion. It's pretty easy to distinguish a honest summary of a company from marketing praise.

passwordoops 3y ago

Yes, especially non-engineers, like everyone in my family. It's why every HR I've encountered has asked employees to put a positive review on the site

maccard 3y ago

Yes. I treat Glassdoor reviews the same as I do hotel reviews or restaurant reviews - look at the reviews where people are positive but have criticisms, and look to see if those criticisms have a trend in the reviews (or if some reviews even tell people that thing is a positive - "difficult work life balance" "high pressure rewarding environment) If they're all positive (or negative) then that's a sign there's something wrong.

lordnacho 3y ago

[flagged]

ggm 3y ago
God give me strength, this is patronising. Do you really believe only the HN cognoscenti know they're being gamed?
- etothepii 3y ago
  No, but I do believe that working with computers all day rewires your brain.
- lordnacho 3y ago
  It's not meant to be patronizing, it's just a fact that people who spend a bunch of time reading about tech are going to hear about things before people who don't. It also makes sense that reviews would have signal. It's not like people are dumb, they were just born in an earlier world where reviews would actually have some reputation attached to them. Movies, restaurants, concerts, that kind of stuff would be reviewed by someone capable of writing and filtered through a newspaper editor. Now things have changed and it takes some time for everyone to figure it out.
  - 2devnull 3y ago
    If reviews “have some signal” then wouldn’t it be more clever to learn to make use of that signal rather than dismiss as entirely worthless?
    - lordnacho 3y ago
      I said it makes sense that they have signal, not that they have signal. Like it makes sense that shaving makes your beard grow, it just turns out not be what actually happens.
- neilv 3y ago
  In this particular case... HNers tend to be familiar with tech industry business models and investment models, more than the average person who doesn't work in tech. So I think it's plausible we'll tend to have a somewhat better awareness of the dynamics around reviews that are posted online. (But I don't think we're more savvy about the world in general. If anything, we tend to have STEM-like narrower exposure to the world than many, coupled with the overconfidence that comes from income level.)

knallfrosch 3y ago

Yes, ignore all ratings and read the review content. You can spot pain points, such as missing remote-flexibility, or bad incentives, or impossible deadlines, or bad equipment, or lousy onboarding, micromanagement, meetings late in the day, racism (like in Tesla factories).. Reading reviews helps you understand what you should pay attention to. You might take some things for granted that the company completely violates. You can then use your knowledge to ask specific questions during the job interview. Like: "What's your remote work policy and please put 5 days at home in my contract." Or you could spot the open office with old computers. As Tolstoy put it: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" And it's up to you to spot a specific unhappiness at any given company.

clnq 3y ago

Yes, I mostly look at critical reviews and really pay attention to things mentioned by a few employees in different words. I usually do this while interviewing, so I am only interested in the negative takes as the company will readily tell me every positive aspect they can boast of. Just apply a bit of common sense to the comments and they will be a great source of insight. Some things they say can even be verified elsewhere (like if people from management keep getting into harassment lawsuits, if the company mistreats its clients, and similar).