Laid off months after starting, given only 2 weeks of severance - Software Engineer Sea Machines Employee Review

1.0
Jan 13, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are genuinely no pros to working here.

Cons

- Over-hired. Excusable for a massive bureaucratic organization like Google, but it makes little sense that a 30 person team would aggressively over-hire and then lay people off months later. - Lack of humanity. I was given 2 weeks of severance pay, which is unusually low nowadays. - Poor product direction. Too many lines of products for a small startup, and customers don't like them. They were working on an autonomy product, a situational awareness product, AND a fleet management product while I was there. None of them were offered together.

Explore other reviews about Sea Machines

5.0
Mar 5, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people Exciting/impactful work Opportunity to learn & grow In-demand tech

Cons

None to report right now

2.0
Jan 17, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Everyone around the company is super nice (including the CEO). The concept of retrofitting boats for autonomy is innovative and has potential. The enthusiasm among team members is palpable, and there's a real sense of being at the forefront of something novel.

Cons

The lack of focus and direction from management is profoundly detrimental. As an engineer, it's disheartening to see a barrage of projects being added without any strategic planning or understanding of the engineering challenges involved. This scattergun approach results in a perpetual state of chaos and inefficiency. Furthermore, the core business model of retrofitting boats for autonomy, while innovative, is not viable in its current form. Each deployment is a time-consuming, resource-intensive ordeal, which raises serious questions about the scalability and long-term sustainability of the business.

2
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All