Great Place - Senior Software Engineer Guidewire Employee Review

4.0
Dec 2, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Guidewire is a pretty special place. Great technology, a lot of people who really care about building software that works, and a lot of practicality. Bullsh*t doesn't fly here: there is a lot of skepticism around things that make other organizations starry-eyed. Pragmatic applications of unit testing is a good example: we test much better than most organizations, but we recognize there isn't a silver bullet out there, and testing is no substitute for good architecture. We also don't let pure architects exist: if you've got an opinion on something you better damned well be writing code for it. Best crew I've ever worked with.

Cons

We do roll a lot of our own technologies. That can be bad if you want to add the latest J2EE acronyms to your resume. But if you are a general technologist, it is a pretty fun environment. We've got our own langauge, web layer, OR layer, etc. All of it is done pretty well, when compared with the usual J2EE garbage, anyway. We are also tribalizing a bit as we get larger. Probably not much that can be done about that.

Explore other reviews about Guidewire

5.0
May 16, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Internal education and freedom to learn about the industry

Cons

Fully remote means less time spent with other team members

2.0
Feb 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

NA, can't think of anything positive anymore. It's a micromanaging mess.

Cons

Guidewire makes majors shift every 2 years and the last one to take PgM out of PD into its own department is a micromanaging nightmare. We have more status meetings and spreadsheets to update than time to do any work anymore. 3 places to update if I want to take PTO. 7am and 7pm meetings are now the norm. 6 bosses in 10 years, no one can make up their mind on the direction of the company, projects start and are abandoned constantly.

5
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