Pros
--Development-- For engineers who are just entering the workforce, TripAdvisor is an awesome place to start a career. The mandate of full-stack development allows engineers to gain crucial experience on many common, though somewhat antiquated, coding frameworks. At TripAdvisor, there are plenty of examples of winning strategies and failing strategies. Observant engineers will learn as much about what not to do in software development as they will about what to do, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Experience in both frontend and backend development, along with guidance from talented fellow engineers, will set engineers up well for their next employment jump. --Benefits-- TripAdvisor employees get a $250 once per year personal travel bonus to help compensate a hotel stay or plane ride. The medical package is good for single employees and decent for employees with families. There is free lunch on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. --Culture-- There are a lot of very smart people, engineering and otherwise, who are social, friendly, and inviting of newcomers.
Cons
--Environment -- TripAdvisor prides itself on moving quickly, our motto is "Speed Wins". Sadly, that motto is more often used to justify making poor design decisions to quickly finish small projects than on identifying new trends within the industry and acting on them. As a result, many sections of the codebase are in disrepair. Poor code from previous projects often hinders developers' ability to achieve the goals of their current projects and are frustrating to encounter on a deadline. Upper-management is also reluctant to spend money and man-power fixing problems that slow down development. --Compensation-- TripAdvisor is a good place to start a career, but it is not a good place to continue one. Hard work is rarely rewarded and the pay raises are relatively flat. Last year's bonus cycle brought modest pay raises that were about on-par with cost of living increases. The realization that new hires are compensated on par with or better than employees who have been around and know the codebase creates morale problems. Many engineers here take this is a signal from management that unseasoned engineers are worth as much as current engineers and that career advancement is limited. --Benefits-- Although the company has offices around the world, engineers are discouraged from visiting them. It isn't that the benefits here are bad, it's that there is nothing that really stands out.
