Pinterest Software Developer reviews

4.1

91% would recommend to a friend

(142 total reviews)
avatar

Bill Ready

87% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

Software Engineer (Developer) employees have rated Pinterest with 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 142 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Engineer (Developer) professionals have an excellent working experience there. Pinterest is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Engineer (Developer) professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

142 reviews
4.0
Mar 23, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- I've read every single 1 and 2 star review on glassdoor. Some complaints are definitely valid, but comments about Pinterest being a toxic/backstabbing/political workplace don't resonate with me or any coworkers I've spoken with. - Strong growth in terms of both users and revenue - Product that people love and their eyes light up when you tell them where you work - Company is still small enough where it is easy for someone to come in and have a big impact - Great work life balance - Warm friendly culture

Cons

- Co-founders claim to not have an inner-circle, but both of them are introverts. I've never seen them go out of their way to talk to or get to know employees outside of their inner-circle. Even when the CEO used to move desks frequently and I sat next to him for a month, he never once spoke a word to anyone else working in the pod. And that is exactly how you end up with an inner circle... - Product team has had a lot of failures (Placed Pins, Q&A, Conversations, Digest, Library, etc). Reason for these failures are because the product team promotes PMs that are good at talking a big game and telling leadership exactly what they want to hear. However, PMs that have a different approach or think differently from leadership, but are great at executing against goals and delivering successful features/projects, have left, been sidelined, or pushed out. Talk & ideas are cheap, product leadership should reward the PMs that can demonstrate they are consistently able to execute and deliver. - Company needs to hire a strong technical leader at the Directs level. Engineers don't feel like their needs and concerns are currently being well represented at the leadership level.

5.0
Mar 22, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Awesome Silicon Valley perks: free breakfast, lunch, dinner/snacks/drinks, lots of happy hours and random activities, friendly and fun workplace in the city, unlimited PTO. - You get to work with top talent. I work with a ton of accomplished engineers and learn new stuff everyday. - Great product that has a big future both creatively and in terms of monetization. - The company really invests in your success and goes to great lengths to make sure you're a happy employee. Can really tell a difference compared to my previous employer. - Fantastic work/life balance (though can vary slightly depending on your team/big deadlines). - Warm and friendly culture. You won't really find the tech-bro mindset here that you might find at other companies which is extremely refreshing. - Emphasis on meritocracy and removing bias from decision making in hiring and promotions (unconscious bias training, carefully reviewed and thought out processes, strong diversity initiatives, ect). - Top level directs are friendly and readily available to answer questions/comments.

Cons

- I notice there are a few aggressive reviews on here and I think they are probably situational and exaggerated . Company is a startup growing into a bigger company so there are natural growing pains/reorgs associated with that that some people may have their own opinions about.

1.0
Mar 5, 2016

Poorly Managed

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Product still have some potential.

Cons

After a number of high profile acquisitions post January 2015, the company culture and performance has plummeted. Here's a recap on ongoing management issues that is now at least four quarters old. - Product Management does not have a clear vision on how to direct company goals resulting in never ending planning sessions with no clear execution record. - Growth Management is incompetent. No accountability after 7 months of mismanagement. - Infrastructure reorganization and disposal of long time employees that have contributed significantly. Mistrust through management favoritism. - Bogus Chief titles and Head/Director titles. Hypocritical about maintaining a flat culture. Results don't matter, special relationships with leadership matter more. - Nobody is technical at the top. Company has outgrew them long ago. Retained for unclear reasons. - CEO haven't outgrew himself. Multiple layers of Product Management leadership that are mandating product direction, it takes about 5 layers of humans before it gets to the staff that are executing. Plus a CEO still micromanaging product directions through hunches.

Viewing 124 - 126 of 142 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,279 Pinterest reviews submitted anonymously by Pinterest employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Pinterest is right for you.