Pays well but a sweat shop - Senior Software Engineer Instacart Employee Review

3.0
Sep 4, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits 3 months paternity leave Free lunch in SF office

Cons

Bad work life balance CEO threatened people who took more than 18 PTOs Lot of attrition Everyone is a senior staff director lol

Explore other reviews about Instacart

5.0
Dec 10, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay Your own boss Your own hours

Cons

Slow at times Weather is bad at times

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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