If you're considering joining Dojo primarily for the high salary, I’d strongly recommend proceeding cautiously. During my time at the company, I witnessed three rounds of redundancies within a single year and was personally affected by one of them.
The founders are known for setting highly ambitious goals, but this often leads to:
1. Constantly shifting priorities without a clear or data-driven strategy. Many key decisions are made based on gut instinct rather than informed analysis.
2. Sudden layoffs with little notice or transparency. A glance at recent Glassdoor reviews reflects how common and disruptive this has become.
3. Empty promises that fail to materialise have become a recurring theme. A notable example: during a “Creator Summit,” the CTO assured engineers that “better days are coming.” Shortly after, the company mandated a four-day in-office policy and simultaneously announced another round of redundancies. In response, many of the company’s top engineering talent, particularly senior developers, chose to leave voluntarily. As a result, while the number of actual redundancies may have been small, the organisation suffered a significant loss of knowledge, experience, and employee trust. This talent drain has become a serious issue, with more employees now actively exploring opportunities elsewhere. In an apparent effort to retain staff, the company has announced a modest 2% pay increase and hinted at the possibility of future bonuses, though given past patterns, I wouldn’t place too much confidence in those promises.
Recently, the company has pivoted to a new product direction and is heavily investing in it, effectively putting all its eggs in one basket. If this initiative fails, the consequences are uncertain. It’s worth noting that Dojo operates in an intensely competitive market, has been running at a loss, and is taking on an increasing amount of debt.
Shortly after the redundancy process concluded, the company hosted 'Dojo Day'—an attempt to reset the office culture with free food, drinks, and branded chocolates. They also announced a modest 2% pay raise and hinted at a future bonus scheme. While this might appear to be a generous gesture on the surface, I found it deeply concerning. Here’s why:
1. If the investment deal was already in motion—as these agreements typically take months to finalise—then why carry out redundancies in January? Surely the incoming funding could have been used to retain the original talent, especially those with valuable domain knowledge?
2. Not learning from past mistakes, the founders made a huge mistake renting 2 extra floors, and now, with some more invested money, they most likely will make bad decisions again.
3. It feels quite disrespectful to initiate redundancies simply because the company missed arbitrary revenue targets, especially while turning around and celebrating something like 'Dojo Day.
I don’t usually write Glassdoor reviews, but my experience at Dojo has compelled me to speak up, primarily to ensure that any engineer considering joining this company has a clear and accurate understanding of its current state. I encourage you to read other Glassdoor reviews as well—it's clear that these concerns are widely shared among current and former employees