Pinterest Software Developer reviews

4.1

91% would recommend to a friend

(143 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 143 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

143 reviews
5.0
Mar 30, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The head of engineering has a mantra he repeats often, "be unfailingly kind." It's felt throughout the engineering organization: people going out of their way to be courteous and helpful, sometimes at the expense of productivity. This makes working at Pinterest a joy. It makes it easy for new employees to quickly ramp up and for long-time employees to continue to grow. It makes me excited to come into work every day. The company's values are in the right place. I truly believe that more diverse teams build better products, and Pinterest is making investments in recruiting and inclusion that will pay off for years to come. The best part is that none of this comes at the expense of the awesome technology that we continue to pioneer at breathtaking pace. Our visual search team is way ahead of everyone else, and even Apple itself is envious of our work on AsyncDisplayKit. As Pinterest grows and matures, working here will become more routine, and the people who made this company great will gradually depart to take on new adventures. But that hasn't happened yet. And I'm loving every minute of the present.

Cons

The speed of our growth and the realities of the San Francisco real estate market have forced us to split our workforce over two buildings, a few blocks away from one another. This has meant we're not as close-knit as we once were, and it's harder to maintain working relationships that span both buildings.

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.

Viewing 124 - 126 of 143 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,281 Pinterest reviews submitted anonymously by Pinterest employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Pinterest is right for you.