Ultimaker Reviews

3.7

59% would recommend to a friend

(47 total reviews)

Jürgen von Hollen

56% approve of CEO

39% positive business outlook

Ultimaker has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 47 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Ultimaker employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

47 reviews
1.0
17 Feb 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You are taken care of with the basics. Free, simple lunch, your train journey to work is subsidised and there are activities you can do with your co-workers each week after work. Most of the co-workers are the best part of working here. I've made friends, found new groups for activities and also new hobbies. The work-life balance is fairly good, and we can work fairly flexibly, within reason.

Cons

I don't even know where to start. The company has almost no vision. They bank everything on the current, ageing product portfolio, invest nothing into development then wonder why our competitors are so much more advanced than us. If you push for technological improvements you are beaten with the words "yeah, but that's just too risky" or "we don't have time to do that" endlessly until you lose the motivation to even try anymore. They are so focused on their one time successes that they cling to them in the hope they will float the boat forever, ignorant of the water already flooding in. The management culture is absolutely disgusting as well. The majority of the managers have come from Océ, the average age is quite high, and they operate as as they always have despite the need to work differently in a fast moving industry. They all seem to follow the same style of management and it's about as comfortable as sandpaper underwear. Non-functional, abrasive and enough to even make some people cry. It feels more like psychological warfare or torture most times and there is nearly no trust in anyone. The entire engineering department is in a constant state of misery and bitterness, and the management response is usually to argue about it for several months, then shorten the project timeline and push the engineers harder because they wasted it all arguing about what to do. I'm yet to see a single person in the whole company's management structure that is actually able to make a decision, let alone a decision in a timely manner. The entire company seems to function by arguing about what customers want, delaying it's projects endlessly, then just picking the only option remaining that will fit the delivery date they set at the beginning. This usually just devolves into a "face-lifted" version of an existing product with superficial improvements but never addresses the underlying problems of the products from several generations ago. Finally, there is the administration/HR side. With the exception of maybe one person, I'm honestly lost for words at how bad it is. Possibly the worst I've ever encountered. For starters, they don't even work in the same building, they work in the nice, new offices in Utrecht. You best hope you never need to get a form signed by someone in these departments because you will literally be waiting for months. The worst though, is when expats start with the company. These are people who packed up their entire lives, have moved country to come work with us, and after the first month they are basically left to their own devices and told to "just google it". Speaking with expat colleagues is genuinely upsetting, and their only saving grace seems to be the other expats and local Dutch that try to help them sort everything out.

2.0
19 Aug 2019

Immense growing pains

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working on the future of manufacturing Great and smart colleagues Free lunch

Cons

Low engineer pay Extreme differences in pay Low tech employee appreciation High employee turnover

1.0
15 Aug 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It's an outwardly friendly company on-the-surface with a thin veneer of caring about its employees and staff. Basically, you get a free lunch and are expected to appreciate this in lieu of any other company shortcomings. However, therein lies the caveat for which most contractors and/or employees will come to realise, in that HR doesnt really care about you or your long-term outlook with the company. There is little interest in investing in your future with any form of year-on-year plan and it is interested really in what you can provide in the short term and how easy it will be to dispense with you when it becomes necessary, if necessary. You will therefore become part of an 'expendable workforce' should you choose to retain a position here.

Cons

It's below that thin veneer of happy-happy-joy-joy where you will find the back-biting and inter-departmental power struggles exemplified by conversations taking place in a meeting room one minute, then a different conversation taking place behind your back about the same topic 10 minutes later. UM is an organisation that is relying heavily on it's past achievements while struggling to overcome operational immaturity, gross inefficiency and inconsistent quality levels. In this respect it openly risks maintaining its' market position without considering or implementing adequate controls. UM is attempting to keep up and develop as an organisation but the elusive and confusing C-level tier, weak management structure and under-developed corporate mentality will eventually preclude its future ambitions. UM will react to, rather pre-empt its' weakening market position, while product development engineers will become subject to increasing and impossible expectations by an over-ambitious, immature Product Development Board culminating in frustration and a lack of job satisfaction by those affected. There is also a vast range of salaries leading to resentment, dissatisfaction and demotivation, especially amongst the younger recent graduates.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 47 Reviews

Glassdoor has 74 Ultimaker reviews submitted anonymously by Ultimaker employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Ultimaker is right for you.