Boring technology, Micromanagement, and no Career Advancement - Associate Software Engineer Workday Employee Review

1.0
Nov 11, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Any company that has a good cash flow is good for seniors, and people in the finance/hr or service roles. If you're into fun and like to live at work, the culture is great. The leadership is top-notch. Some visionary guys are in power here that help spurn the company forward.

Cons

When it comes to engineering, IT, and development, this place is a dead end. If you want to work day and night, spent 60 hours a week at a job that underpays you for 40 hours, this is your place. You will spend the rest of your life here in proprietary-language programming, finding hidden bugs in the system beyond your domain of knowledge. You'll spend most of your time tracking down people who caused a particular issue, not learning anything new about technology. Documentation is terrible here. Better become best friends with key people to know what's going on. They say they have career advancement opportunity here because you go nominally from associate, to engineer, to senior engineer, but these titles don't mean anything and they don't come with much pay increase. They do pay ok but that's only because their stock benefits are doing well "for the moment." The stock prices has been continually slowing in growth since I started and the lofty promise of And do the math and you'll realize that even if you worked only 40 hours a week, you make less than half the hourly pay of the average contractor. Don't be fooled by the fancy cars some workday employees drive. Seniority is the single most important factor here. If you are employee 500 or less, you're doing well. Also don't expect to design anything because all the important decisions are made by 6+ year seniors. If you worked at a startup or medium sized company you'd be doing the same job as them and make more in the long run.

Explore other reviews about Workday

5.0
Jun 19, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work life balance is very good

Cons

Too much org level changes

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Workday Response
2w
Thank you for sharing your experience at Workday. We're delighted to know that you've been making the most of your time with us and have been benefiting from a good work-life balance. This feedback is incredibly valuable as it helps us provide an even better working experience and benefits for our Workmates.
3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent engineering talent and knowledgeable coworkers. Strong engineering culture with high code quality standards. Modern technology stack and opportunities to work on large-scale enterprise software. Good work-life balance compared to many tech companies. Competitive compensation, benefits, and employee perks. Collaborative environment with supportive teammates. Opportunities to learn new technologies and grow technically. Stable development processes and mature SDLC practices. Strong emphasis on testing, code reviews, and software quality. Flexible work arrangements (depending on team).

Cons

Large organization means decision-making can be slow. Significant amount of process and bureaucracy before changes reach production. Cross-team dependencies can slow delivery. Career growth can depend on organizational priorities and manager support. Frequent reorganizations can shift priorities and disrupt long-term projects. Innovation may move slower than at smaller startups. Internal tools and processes can sometimes feel overly complex. Communication between teams can occasionally be inconsistent. Like much of the tech industry, the company has experienced layoffs, creating uncertainty for some employees. Promotions can take time and require navigating multiple approval levels.

1
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Workday Response
1w
Thank you for your thoughtful review. We're aware that there's always room to grow, but at Workday, we take pride in our dedication to our Workmates and the 'employee first' ethos we've embedded since day one. We value your feedback as well as the praise you have provided in your review.
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