Hypocritical culture/broken middle management/no work life blanace - Anonymous employee Airbnb Employee Review

1.0
Jan 11, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart and talented colleagues Good mission Interesting product and problem to work on

Cons

Culture is hypocritical- the founders might not mean to have the culture become what it is today but reality is that people only being a host to manage up. The outside image and recruiting brand definitely looks much better than the reality inside. They recently cut the food team while taking about the brand of AIRFAM when recruiting - no family is disposable for financial reasons, if you cannot stand for your culture then do not say or brand it. Broken operation - I have been working for several tech companies big and small, the management at Airbnb is definitely on the chaotic side. Teams step on each others’ toes, nonsense frequent reorganization, people get promoted by taking others’ credit. Mid management focus on growing their own career here rather than helping team or their reports be successful. Setting up your authority in the organization or being an early employee is more important than doing actual impactful work. Many managers promoted within the company from early days do not know how to manage and often meddle with employee’s work. Lack of innovation - most of middle management here, as a result of trying to promote their own career, do not take bold innovative approach to the business. The result is a lack of innovation to make impact but rather fine tuning to make their performance review looks good or please their upper management. No work life balance - you are expected to work A LOT sometimes 70-80 hours when you are on certain teams.

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Pros

Laid back, strong mentorship/training, and good team chemistry.

Cons

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5.0
Jun 4, 2026
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Pros

Airbnb's mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere strongly resonates with me. I'm excited by the opportunity to build products that operate at global scale and directly impact millions of users. My background in full-stack engineering, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and AI-powered applications aligns well with Airbnb's focus on innovation, reliability, and exceptional user experiences. I am particularly attracted to Airbnb's engineering culture, emphasis on ownership, and commitment to solving complex technical challenges while delivering meaningful value to hosts, guests, and communities worldwide.

Cons

One challenge of working at Airbnb is the complexity that comes with operating a global platform at scale. Engineering teams must balance reliability, performance, compliance, and user experience across many markets and stakeholders. While this can make development and decision-making more complex, it is also one of the aspects that makes the work technically interesting and professionally rewarding.

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