As a non-profit, this could be a great place, but it’s held back by the appliedAI Initiative’s flawed business model.
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Modern working culture, flexible hours, remote work, cutting-edge topics, non-profit, and open-source projects.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Dependence on funding from Heilbronn skews priorities toward satisfying funders rather than creating real impact. This includes projects like the aAI Studio and hiring quotas tied to Heilbronn, which hinder the ability to attract top talent.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Treat your engineers with care - they have alternatives.
Avoid prioritizing cost-cutting as the primary goal of the company.
Instead, clearly define your purpose and commit fully to achieving it.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
The atmosphere used to be dynamic, with great colleagues and a modern office. However, recent developments created an environment of insecurity, with little clarity about the organization's future or performance expectations.
Kommunikation
Communication is one-sided and largely irrelevant to employees' actual work. Monthly updates focus on self-promotion and vanity metrics, while important strategic issues are neglected.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
My team was exceptional, and most colleagues were supportive and collaborative.
Work-Life-Balance
Work-life balance is excellent, with flexible hours and the option for remote work, including "workations" abroad for up to three months.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Management consistently makes top-down decisions, pushing through changes without notice or regard for employee feedback. Important inquiries to the management level repeatedly went unanswered. Management's actions rarely align with their words, and the organization lacks strategic focus.
Interessante Aufgaben
While I worked on cutting-edge ML methods, management showed little interest in these efforts. The focus is skewed toward politics, governance, and creating polished presentations rather than driving real engineering or innovation.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
Few senior professionals are present, which limits opportunities to learn from experienced colleagues.
Arbeitsbedingungen
Flexible working hours and locations are a plus, but collaboration suffers due to the largely remote setup. The hardware provided recently is insufficient for engineers, and GPU compute resources are ridiculous for an AI company.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
As a non-profit, the organization aims for societal benefit. Unfortunately, the focus on “Trustworthy AI” is vague, it remains unclear what exactly that means or how one would build such AI systems.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
Salary is decent for a non-profit with good work-life balance, though way lower than what you get in big tech. Basic perks like EGYM, a job ticket, and snacks are offered.
Image
Externally, the organization struggles to communicate its purpose, leaving people confused about its work. Recent layoffs have further tarnished its reputation.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
There is a training budget and I learned a lot here. However, the lack of long-term engineering projects limits career development for engineers significantly.