Bad pay, worse culture. - Software Engineer DISH Employee Review

1.0
Feb 10, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Not much. All you need to know is their motto is "the best benefit is the opportunity". They sincerely say that at Dish.... Some managers/team leads are okay, but once you get up to the VP level it gets toxic fast.

Cons

They under pay everyone. Significantly. They gave a pay raise to a lot of employees that amounted to nearly 20% last year and even with that raise, their salaries were still 3 years behind the industry averages. And they acted like it was huge favor to pay you a little more, but still well below average. Which brings us to culture. The culture here is horrible. Strict work hours. Time tracking and hassling you if you're arriving a second past 9. Your manager will call you into the office like you're a child asking for an explanation. Dish loves to infantalize its employees. Especially about..... WFH/remote work. The chairman of the company, in a ATM meeting, referred to those employees that wish to have WFH options as "sociopaths". Now, Dish is plagued with attrition (wonder why?) and all teams are at least a few people short. Don't worry. That won't stop them from asking you if you could do additional work and maybe even ask you to support another team or two or several additional projects. The benefits suck. Medical and dental are really bad. The PTO is a joke. You don't get normal holidays like MLK day off. And if they do give you a Christmas Eve off they will remind you they're doing you a huge favor. The company sucks. Outdated tech, banking on 5g to save them.

Explore other reviews about DISH

5.0
May 31, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work and research based profile

Cons

Less salary and too many orgs

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DISH Response
1mo
We appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective on your experience with us. It is wonderful to hear that you found the research-based work profile to be engaging and fulfilling. We always aim to provide meaningful and intellectually stimulating opportunities for our team members. We also acknowledge your concerns regarding compensation and our organizational complexity. Our team is constantly reviewing our structures and total rewards packages to ensure we remain competitive and supportive, and insights like yours are incredibly helpful as we work toward continuous improvement. We wish you the very best in your professional journey.
3.0
May 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good middle management and compensation. Lots of opportunities to learn from plenty of smart people.

Cons

Disclaimer -This is all water cooler hearsay and opinion. During the two years I was there the bill came due on being penny wise and dollar dumb over the years. A great example is Sling. Dish beat basically everyone to market but Netflix with streaming and was the first platform to offer live TV via stream (which YouTube TV still uses as a selling point). What happened? Dish paid the original engineers to build it and then balked at paying them to document and maintain it. Same deal with the cyber security team. After years of expecting security engineers to do exceptional work shorthanded for middling compensation eventually they had none. It was all put on the security manager, who had a heart attack after repeatedly requesting support. He understandably did not return. Not much later one of the core systems was ransomed, and the company fell out of the fortune 500. Despite being in the middle of dealing with the consequences of those decisions leadership was doing it all again with the mobile network build out.

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DISH Response
1mo
Hearing that you found value in our middle management and compensation, as well as the chance to learn from the talented individuals on our teams, is encouraging. We appreciate you recognizing those aspects of your time with us. On the other hand, the historical context and concerns you shared regarding executive decision-making, infrastructure maintenance, and resource allocation are deeply concerning. Maintaining a stable, secure, and well-supported environment for our workforce is of the utmost importance, and we take feedback regarding employee well-being and operational decisions seriously. We are continually working to strengthen our operations and better support our teams across all business units. Because this review references a sensitive medical situation alongside organizational challenges, we would welcome the opportunity to hear more about your perspective. Please consider reaching out to our team directly at peopleoperations@dish.com so we can learn more.
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