It's the safe option - Software Engineer BambooHR Employee Review

3.0
Aug 16, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

BambooHR is a very safe choice. The company is doing well, outlook is reasonable, things are stable. Benefits are very good, culture is friendly and chill, pay is reasonable. It's a source of a reliable paycheck.

Cons

None of the people I worked with were passionate about the company or the product. Everyone showed up, put in their hours, then went home and checked out. It was just a job for everyone - just a way to get a paycheck. I once had a manager tell me that there wasn't any more work for me to do, so I should just go watch Youtube. At the same time, everything was micromanaged. Every ticket was prepared by a manager, and I couldn't work on anything unless my manager gave me the work. There was no "find the next important problem" or "try and see where you can be valuable." It was just "do what your manager tells you to." I was just a cog in the machine, not expected to care about the product or the big picture, just keep my head down and complete the slow stream of tickets that came my direction. That same manager once told me that he preferred working in an office because it made it easier to watch the team and make sure everyone was still working. The separation between engineering and devops was an issue as well. The engineers are not allowed to touch anything to do with infrastructure. This has a couple negative effects: - The engineers feel no sense of ownership over what they build. If they release something that reduces site performance, that's a devops issue. Not their problem. - The engineers are not empowered to solve problems with infrastructure. I once suggested using AWS Lambda to solve a problem, and the response was "yeah, that would be nice, if we were allowed to touch the infrastructure." BambooHR gets many awards and a lot of recognition for being a very good place to work. In my experience, it's a great place for a certain type of person. If you're looking for somewhere fast-paced, where you can drive business impact, really take ownership over your work, and find and solve business-critical problems, BambooHR is not the place for you.

Explore other reviews about BambooHR

5.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

BambooHR is a great place to work with outstanding people.

Cons

BambooHR is focusing heavily on AI, which can come at the expense of jobs.

2.0
Jun 25, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

At the end of my tenure, I really have no pros.

Cons

I'm pretty sure I was "quietly laid off", in the effort of sneaky downsizing without having to actually do formal layoffs. This place was a godsend and a great place to work on my small independent team, and I did great. Then they did massive restructuring, added layers of hierarchy, added process, and basically just starting running a creative team like a line of factory workers. I had a horrible time with my manager on so many different levels, and felt validation when others would reflect the same, but I reflect what everyone else says - narcissistic, micro managing leadership that I now understand play manipulation games. I was put on a performance improvement plan and finally quit due to burnout, stress, and the dissolution of a role and a team that I had from before. They constantly push for solutions and deliverables, but I never really saw anything I delivered actually get treated and implemented with respect. Company policies and siloed team policies and procedures stymie actual effectiveness, and it seems like the leadership acts as your strict grade school teacher rather than having your back.

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