Fired without explanation. Job seekers please take caution. - Anonymous employee OBMedia Employee Review

1.0
21 Nov 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Everyone I interacted with was genuinely pleasant to work with. I don't think they intentionally meant me any harm, but at the end of the day that's what happened.

Cons

I had almost nothing in terms feedback. I had a review after a 90 day trial period. They told me "good job, everything looks great." At 6 months, we had another formal review. It was a pretty standard review: performance was satisfactory, here are a few areas for improvement. All good so far. Fast forward to 10 months. My manager had been fairly quiet. There was absolutely nothing to indicate I was falling behind. Then one day, I get "called in" (everything was remote so this was on video chat). They tell me I am being fired for poor performance. This was completely out of the blue. Again, there was absolutely no communication (formal or informal) I was failing to meet company expectations. I sat there on video chat and began to hyperventilate. A panic attack was starting and I had no way to stop it (I had already previously disclosed my anxiety disorder to my manager. He knew about it.) At this point, the only sound was my involuntary gasping through the webcam. The manager and the HR rep simply stared at me, gave me an empty "we wish you the best," and then hung up, immediately revoked all my company access and left me. My Apple Watch would later reveal that my heart rate had spiked to 178 during that "conversation" -- although it wasn't really a conversation, as I was never afforded to chance to say anything. I would later try to email my former manager and HR to ask for an exit interview of sorts. Just a quick conversation on what went wrong so I could improve for my next job. All they said it they wanted a "clean break". Well, here's my question: is hanging up on me during a panic attack your definition of "clean"?

Explore other reviews about OBMedia

5.0
4 Dec 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Absolutely fantastic company to work for. I’ve worked at a number of different jobs and this one offers by far the best work life balance and fulfilling work. Management is very open to change and as an engineer I feel I can make a direct difference to both revenue in the company and engineering process. OBMedia truly cares about its employees and offers great benefits and lots of PTO. The only people who don’t succeed here are mostly lacking in communication skills but a since this is a fully remote company that is par for the course.

Cons

Only con is that the company is in the advertising space which isn’t the most interesting work compared to other engineering jobs. However we deal with quite a large scale (millions of clicks per day) so the engineering problems to solve maintain their interest.

2
3.0
1 Oct 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The ICs were genuinely anomalously sharp and good at their work. Baseline, they're significantly competent and exercise their agency well, and more than that, they try to set each other up for success. Among the ICs, people try to speak to the "why" of what we're doing. The pay was also really really good, although near the end there was a tendency to try to pay according to "industry comp ranges" as opposed to actual value to the company - which is honestly a crazy thing to do at a small search arbitrage company.

Cons

Senior management - I hesitate to say leadership - has no real strategic plan. The CEO just doesn't seem to add any value when present - at least none obvious to mere mortals - and for a while we had two CTOs? Management just below C-suite kept promising strategy and declaring priorities that were plainly not grounded in reality, and then walking it back after not meaningfully trying. ICs were kept in the dark to figure themselves out. The relationship with the parent holding company (Enero) was bizarre, but internal management was also bizarre. There was some kind of political fight in 2023 where the CEO ousted the CDO? And then the good senior managers quietly left? Senior management decisions after that were...odd, to say the least.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All