Pros
Note: I would have given a 5-star rating if I hadn't read the 2 most recent customer care/customer service reviews first. Part of why I was proud to work at Overstock when I started was that a friend who'd worked in customer care had raved about it, but it seems like that's changed: "The Team Leads monitor everyone’s phone to see who is not available to take calls, and walk around the floor yelling at agents so loud the customers can hear them. Agents are expected to respond to customer emails AND talk to customers while resolving their issues at the same time! We are monitored for the amount of minutes spent in “Bathroom Break”, and are discouraged from using the restroom except during our normal Break or Lunch time." I am horrified to hear about this mistreatment of workers whose jobs are already brutal and low-paying. When I hear someone making 90k+ with plenty of job opportunities elsewhere complaining, I don't care that much. But degrading people like this? And employees who are already less privileged? Not okay. ===== That said, Overstock has been good to me. I started in IT with few usable skills, my first job out of college, and I'm happier than I ever have been in my life. I find the work to be collaborative, both within my close-knit dev team and the other teams, in and out of IT, that we work with. Many of the coworkers I've worked most closely with have been promoted, and/or transferred to a position that closer matches want they want to work on. My team doesn't currently face any deadline pressure to speak of, that I know about, and we determine what we'll be working on to a significant degree. We have a lot of impromptu conversations about features. How we work is also flexible--I have spent time just learning, programming on my own with mentor oversight, pair-programming, and programming on my own without oversight. I have a sitting-to-standing desk, most people come in around 9am but later is okay, offsite is okay (but unusual--a pro for me since I prefer to be able to ask people questions and raise concerns or ideas), last-minute PTO is okay. In addition to core Java, I have the opportunity to work with diverse technologies, old and up-and-coming. The location looks like a state park, with a beautiful nature trail and stream running behind the building, with gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains. The people are friendly and smart and the environment's small enough that you're always around familiar faces. On Halloween, we had a costume party and trick-or-treating for workers' kids. We've had 2 Hackathons (24-hour programming competitions in which teams try to implement an idea they had with the most business value and innovation) in the last year, one internal tech conference, and one inevitable Harlem shake video. Attire is more-or-less jeans, t-shirt, and plaid button-up, sitting on desks or beanbags commonplace for some teams. Benefits are good. Some people are complaining about the soon-to-be-mandatory switch to the High Deductible Healthcare Plan, but I chose that over the previous plan because it was a better choice given my level of healthcare costs.
Cons
What people say about sudden shifts in direction is absolutely true. I've learned to ride it out, but it's definitely harmed my ability to think of Overstock as a long-term employment opportunity. Things change so quickly that my employment status could be one of them. (Though I do hope to stay here and continue to enjoy it for years to come). These shifts have affected my team both because talent has suddenly been pulled off to other projects, hurting the team dynamics as well as reducing our resources, and to a lesser extent through a wavering commitment to improving existing projects. I don't pretend to know enough about business to judge the soundness of these decisions for Overstock overall. Changes also often occur and either aren't announced (as in the case of many promotions I've learned about from the grapevine) or aren't clear. This causes some confusion, although again I'm not sure about the relative merits of letting organizational structure evolve organically vs. planning it out in detail and attempting to impose it on the organization. Overstock also has a serious corporate rumor mill, with a lot of negativity that honestly has a bigger impact on my job satisfaction than whatever it is people happen to be complaining about. This may well simply indicate that I'm lucky. At least I'm not one of those poor devs who's been moved out to the extremely less-scenic Warehouse location.