Unique and challenging problems to solve - Engineering Instacart Employee Review

5.0
Jun 14, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* opportunity to change the entire grocery industry (1 trillion $). * incredibly hard and unique data science problems to solve. How do you build real time systems that will deliver the best experience for customers, shoppers, retailers and CPG? * even though the company has already accomplished a lot, we are only at 10% of what we can achieve in the long run: still so much opportunity for people to innovate and grow. * responsibility to shape the future of work * inclusive and supportive workplace * chance to work with smart and humble people

Cons

* with hyper-growth, it is sometimes hard to navigate the complexity * the company did not focus enough on long-term goals, probably due to always changing environment (competition, investment market, etc..) * we should have hired more in the past

Explore other reviews about Instacart

5.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible Hours and Quick Customer Solutions

Cons

Very unpredictable hours and pay

2.0
Jun 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fun going out and talking to people. You will interact with people everyday. You control how much you get paid. Lots of flexibility in the time between accepting an order and traveling to the store and beginning to shop. It isn't pedal to the metal to get to the store like DoorDash is. You can also cancel batches after accepting as long as you keep your rate under 15%. This is different from DoorDash where your rankings will suffer if g.t. 2% cancellation rate.

Cons

There's a learning curve and it takes a while to learn each chain of stores' items. Once you become proficient at one store, the algorithm will lowball your offers relative to other less-experienced Instacart shoppers. Overall, Instacart shoppers likely get paid similar or less than the store's regular employees.

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