Appian

4.0

Jun 28, 2019

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

A lot of consulting firms look for "butts in seats", silo their workers, and don't allow them to innovate. That is not the case at Appian. Consultants are given a lot of leash from the company, even if our customers don't always allow them to take advantage of it. Appian has a variety of different customers across different domains, which pose new and exciting challenges for consultants who want to be exposed to different technologies. By in large, people are smart, motivated, and hard working. The department tends to run fairly autonomously from the rest of the organization, implementing its own solutions to career management, recruiting, knowledge sharing, etc. There is a strong inclination towards self-governance and self-organizing. For example, our career guidance was developed by consultants across all ranges of the hierarchy, from consultants to VPs. We also have internally managed "guilds" which develop UX, Agile, and Technical best practices based on experiences in the field. This is a much better position than in most government consulting firms. They will not force you to find your own projects, make you work like a robot on repetitive tasks, or silo you to one skill or subject matter. You have an opportunity to make an impact and effect change, as long as you're willing to put in the work.

Cons

Just as with any consulting firm, billability is key and sometimes you get worked to the bone to meet customer demands. A bad manager will make matters much worse. To add insult to injury, Professional Services, the consulting wing of Appian, is certainly the black sheep of Appian and get treated as such. There is little time for consultants to work on self-growth, there is no indie time, and little investment in training other than the initial Academy that consultants go through. Since we have the most experience with customers, we are also saddled with supporting sales cycles, engineering feedback, and many more initiatives that pile on top of an already large workload. Although these extracurriculars are not required, they are key differentiators that certainly matter at raise/promotion time. That being said, there is a small set of individuals that seem to take on this burden more regularly than others, and their compensation does not reflect it.

Appian Response

Thank you for taking the time to provide a review and point out many parts of our culture that are a source of pride; for example: promoting self-organization and self-governance, hiring only the best and brightest, and exposing consultants to a variety of technologies (something that is only becoming increasingly important with the growing power of solutions that include AI, RPA, and mobile-first approaches). Regarding your feedback, we appreciate your candor. Over the last year, we have invested in our snapshot process to ensure employees can provide direct feedback on their managers and we can address growth areas. We will continue to improve this process and we will ask all members of our team to help. We also see it as a strength that consultants here can choose to have an impact in any facet of the company. Whether they choose to assist in sales, recruiting, helping to build a better product, experimenting with new technologies, building practitioner-based training, or helping us enhance our career paths, all these contributions are voluntary. Furthermore, they should align with an individual’s passions, so the contributions are a source of passion, pride, and self-development, rather than a burden. We will consider your feedback to ensure we are positioning these extra-curricular activities properly.

Better than most consultancies - Consultant Appian Employee Review

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