Skip to contentSkip to footer
      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Handshake

      Engaged Employer

      Handshake Software Developer reviews

      3.2

      42% would recommend to a friend

      (36 total reviews)

      Garrett Lord

      11% approve of CEO

      13% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Software Developer employees have rated Handshake with 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 36 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Developer professionals have a good working experience there. Handshake is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Developer professionals compared to other employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      36 reviews
      3.0
      Jun 5, 2024

      Good overall - learning a lot

      Software engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Love the mission of the company and leaders have done a good job to motivate employees. Good location in San Fransisco,

      Cons

      Lots of churn - constant reorgs, people reshuffling.

      1.0
      Jan 27, 2024

      An honest review

      Software engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      If you are stuck working with an old tech stack at some random non-tech company, handshake could be your way into modernizing. The engineering team is so small you’ll be able to get hands on with a lot of the stack. Some of the engineers are very talented and you can learn a lot from them. For now there is no RTO.

      Cons

      The previous reviews that are negative are not exaggerating. The recent positive ones are very misleading and are probably mandated. CEO is not inspiring. I get founded this company and gets emotional but he needs to move on. The new CTO probably wants RTO because he seems to dislike zoom and needs people around him. I have mixed feelings about the CTOs direct reports. Some managers are good. Current manager is the the type to throw you under the bus. Code quality standards are very low. Some senior engineers have never worked in proper large scale projects. I think a lot of people join with the intention to use Handshake as a proving ground to move on to something better. Documentation is confusing, you basically search Slack. The push to only hire in SF for the core teams is dumb and probably driven by fear. Who ever had that idea is probably trying to show the CEO “look we are here working hard”. Wild West when it comes to planning. Some teams do it well, others just do it by word of mouth and random Google docs (guess jira doesn’t exist). Since joining over a year ago I have never felt stability and worried about being laid off constantly.

      avatar
      Handshake Response
      2y
      Thank you for sharing your feedback; we appreciate all insights, whether positive or critical (and we promise: we’ve never mandated that anyone write a positive review!). Our new CTO joined Handshake a few months ago and is committed to making improvements across the organization – no one wants code quality to be low, or documentation to be confusing. Our Leadership Team takes internal surveys and data very seriously, which is why we encourage employees to be candid in their responses and comments. We appreciate the honest feedback that employees have provided through these mediums, and it’s helped us focus our efforts on key areas for our people.
      Viewing 13 - 15 of 36 Reviews
      Related searches: Handshake Software Developer jobs | Handshake Software Developer salaries | Handshake benefits | Handshake Software Developer interviews
      Handshake reviewsHandshake Software Developer reviews

      Glassdoor has 471 Handshake reviews submitted anonymously by Handshake employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Handshake is right for you.