software engineer

project manager

web developer

ios developer

android developer

Ensemble Systems

- Friendly people who will help you out when you ask
- Free staff lunch once a month
- Hiring process is still mainly based on "feel" and not technical expertise. On average interviews are probably 15 minutes in length
- Low comparative pay and mediocre benefits
- Training is poor, you have to figure out everything by trial and error. Very rarely is there any good documentation to follow
- Deadlines can be unreasonable and when the project doesn't go well people tend to get thrown under the bus
- Nobody follows good software development practices unless the employer demands it. Deadlines are much more important than releasing a stable product
- Turnover is high despite their claims otherwise. Quite a few good developers have left for better things, and some get let go for not fitting in personality wise or simply not being liked. It felt like at least one person was either leaving or being fired per month
- Management is arrogant and treats employees more like resources and less like people. They say they want you to grow and that you can choose your own projects, but its entirely based on demand. When you voice a complaint about either the technology or the work you're getting, they'll just say that's where the money's at
- Blame culture is pretty big with management. They will always point fingers at someone when things go wrong, and when they're at fault they brush it off like its nothing. During discussions they will also bring up anything you've done wrong in the past to use against you
- Nepotism still exists on some level with management. They will almost always hand the more interesting projects to people they like and talk to. If you're not one of those people you'll be handed the same type of projects over and over
- Certain project managers like to micromanage their developers
- No feedback whatsoever unless something's gone wrong and it's too late. Definitely not a great place to improve or learn good skill sets/software practices

Ensemble is a company that is completely dependent on clients, as they have no worthwhile products of their own. As an Adobe-certified partner, Ensemble will force you to learn the horrible content management system Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). They encourage AEM so much that most experience you'll receive at Ensemble is HTML, CSS, and (basic) JavaScript since that's generally what AEM uses. You'll be unprepared for other jobs in the industry if you stay at Ensemble for too long.

Management is quite poor. The CEO of Ensemble is friendly and understanding, but he's usually not around so he leaves the company in the hands of terrible management. The higher ups will force you to take on projects (most likely AEM projects), and if anything goes wrong, someone has to take the blame although never themselves. This almost always results in someone being reprimanded, put on probation, or fired. Blame culture is quite strong at Ensemble, but this is mostly because of the higher ups. They also claim that people are able to choose their own projects, but this is absolutely not true and it is based on project demand (again, most likely AEM projects).

The hiring process that they employ is also rather quite poor. For developers, you just have to give them any kind of code. As long as they like you and feel that you'd be a "good fit", you're pretty much guaranteed to be hired. This causes a lot of people to not make it past probation, as they were not hired for their abilities, but solely from their interview impressions.

Otherwise, the environment is pretty relaxed. The most enjoyable part of the job is definitely the people/co-workers. Most people at Ensemble are quite likeable and friendly. There are a few groups or cliques, but if you make an effort to talk to them, they can be some of the greatest people you'll ever meet.

Ensemble is a good place to call home. Unlike many past companies I worked for, Ensemble is willing to change, and has definitely improved in the short two years I've been in. While they are still some way to go, it's the willingness to change that matters to me. 

You will get exposure to a variety of projects and it can be challenging at times as you're juggling on tasks, meetings with clients, and status reports. However, they've got good systems in place to help you keep track.

What I like the most about the company is the people. We have amazing people working here, and they are a absolute pleasure to work and hang out with! 

They truly do care about work/life balance, and always want to make sure the employees are not burned out. That said, if you are determined and always willing to learn on your own time, you will accelerate a lot faster.

Ensemble is one of the most welcoming and supportive companies I have ever worked for. I really feel like all of the leadership at Ensemble care about me and my individual career. 

Ensemble also really cares about work/life balance. Most companies say they do, but at Ensemble they walk-the-walk. Unlike other tech companies, any additional hours worked are properly tracked and banked and can be used whenever YOU want to, not when the company says you can. So, in addition to the starting 3 weeks of vacation, this can add up to a lot of time.

Ensemble also provides a lot of great perks like lunches, snacks, in-office yoga, game nights, social events, family events (where kids are welcome), free parking passes, and a really solid benefits plan.

There are a lot of different projects, using a lot of different stacks, so if you want to learn something new, you can. Overall, I highly recommend Ensemble as a place to work.

Pros: Very nice company culture, no pressure from management, once a month   Birthday lunch from company and Birthday cake, nice activities from the company, shuttle from Skytrain station to the office, work-life balance.
Cons: depends on the team you will work with, you can have a not very professional lead. Some managers have favourites, so you can face nepotism. Hence, some times those employees who are in favourites with management are escaping from consequences when they failed, unlike others. 
Overall it's a good place to work, good place to gain some skills and even make new friends.

I have been here over 10 years.  Excellent work culture.  Lots of friendly people willing to help out and get started.  Within the last couple of years, there was quite a bit more structure added to promote learning and advancement in the developer department.  Good exposure to different tech stack.  React.JS is common.  They also worked on Roku, Android, XBox and SmartTV.  There is a side of their enterprise business that works on Adobe's marketing stack and works with Adobe's cloud offerings.  They also do lots of social activities.  Good company to call home.

I personally enjoy working here. Most folks here are young and fun. Very good place for new grads or moms getting back to work )) The company helps you find your perfect fit, here you can move from QA to dev, to PM, to Sales, Marketing if you have a desire to change career path.

The ensemble is a good place to start a career; the work pace is challenging enough with opportunities to grow and learn new technologies. Nice folks there, family-friendly, accommodating managers, well most of them, nepotism is present for sure.

Once they smell you searching for a job, you will be let go with no reference and support. Low paying job with no career growth. You will see the gap between jr vs sr because all of the seniors are suck ups who cant express any of their thoughts

Nice and friendly people to work with. Pay could be a bit better but overall working at ensemble was a pleasure. Great work life balance and I felt like I was respected by my colleagues.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Software engineer 6 salaries reported	$87,000 per year
Project manager 1 salary reported	$92,500 per year
Web developer 1 salary reported	$100,000 per year
Ios developer 2 salaries reported	$100,000 per year
Android developer 2 salaries reported	$100,000 per year

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