Zopa

Lack of genuine curiosity from most people. Having previously worked at an environment where people breathed and lived their passion, Zopa has been an extremely dull place to work. There are a few clever engineers in the company but the chance of working with them will be low.

Some engineering managers appear to lack the necessary skills to accurately assess the capabilities of their direct reports. People are promoted without sufficient technical skills.

Delivery manager often fixates on deadlines and asks poorly considered questions in meetings, making discussions feel infantilising.

Although the company frequently promotes its commitment to diversity and inclusion, in practice, I didn’t feel particularly included even though I likely tick most of the boxes. My current role has shown me that true inclusion is felt, not just marketed.

The bar for “senior” appears quite low, with around half of the engineers across the company holding this title. As a result, there’s a wide disparity in skill levels among those considered senior.

Staff engineer workloads are unevenly distributed. Some support teams of 10+ engineers, while others have fewer than five. If you end up in a less fortunate team, the support and guidance you receive can be noticeably limited.

Good place to learn modern tech stacks, but if you're a fast learner, you will quickly run out of new challenges. Zopa made efforts to adjust my salary in response to my growth, but unfortunately, the adjustments were not made quickly enough to keep pace with my fast growth and increased responsibilities.

Some HR practices are inconsistent, with no clear or established standards.