Eh...it was mostly good until it wasn't - Senior Software Engineer Big Ass Fans Employee Review

3.0
22 May 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Within my department, it was usually low stress and deadlines were reasonable. Our manager did a good job of insulating the team from the BS. It had a reputation of a fun atmosphere for most of the time I was working there. I enjoyed what I worked on and the people I worked with. The beer fridge (opened when sales goals are met) was a nice perk but not something that will make you stay if you are underpaid. Vacation days were actually pretty decent.

Cons

The fun and motivational culture declined significantly with each of the company purchases and C-suite swapping. The previous CEO (Walma) had done an excellent job of bringing some of the culture and motivation back. Current leadership may have very different ideas. NOTE: For clarity, this survey asks me to rate Ken Walma. I would give a different rating if I were asked to rate the current CEO. They have internal posters and emails from the CEO that go around claiming things like "you are awesome", "the best team I've ever worked with", "we have the best engineering team", etc, but when they do layoffs (which I witnessed several times) they will treat those people like they are terrorists as they walk them out. The person other side of your desk will just disappear with no explanation. On the other hand, if you resign, they will want 2 weeks notice so they can transition your work. The quality of benefits drastically declined over the past several years while increasing in price by 100 or 200% each year. 401k match is very minimal.

Explore other reviews about Big Ass Fans

1.0
1 Mar 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The brand is amazing and you can see remnants of fun that used to make this place unique like the beer fridge and minimal hierarchy. They have decent time off when shutdowns are included.

Cons

The current CEO waffles between crying in town halls to screaming at teams in morning stand up meetings then sending emails about how various people and teams are the best she has ever worked with. You never know which mood you will get. Sales goals are not achievable and layoffs are frequent. Long-time employees avoid promotion because they want to survive so they have to keep bringing in outside management and then they either fire them or they leave often in under a year.

2
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