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Terrible management. Horrible experience. Look elsewhere - Software Development Engineer (SDE) II Discovery, Inc. Employee Review

2.0
Nov 19, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Truly Great compensation. Decent benefits. Generally smart people. The brand and its content are wholesome and fun.

Cons

Project management is a total mess - cargo-cult style agile rituals without any of the benefits of actually...being agile. I know this is a common complaint, but seriously: Discovery was the worst at this that I've seen in a decade in this industry. There was no real rhyme or reason to our processes- we did them like that because managers demanded it. Initiatives and deadlines are determined at a high level and handed to engineering teams without giving them a chance to scoper the work or discuss deadlines. Unclear what many managers and PMs do byound requesting status and "checking in" on deadlines. An endless stream of unfocused, pointless meetings that interrupt workflow. Project managers sniping at and insulting, rather than supporting teams and engineers when they run into trouble/blockers or lag for any reason. Poor morale across teams and a cut-throat culture of competition between teams. An adversarial relationship between engineering, product, and QA (who are third party and paid per bug- which leads to a lot of false positive bugs). Shouting matches between senior product people and engineers in meetings weren't uncommon. An old media company that wants to be a tech company but doesn't want to adapt to tech-company style of work. Felt like management didn't care about burnout or solving problems with processes because they have enough cash and resources to throw at their problems until they get results. Made me feel like cannon fodder. The money is good, and if you can stomach all of the above for the money- it might work for you. For me, it wasn't worth even a higher than average salary.

Explore other reviews about Discovery, Inc.

5.0
Feb 4, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Generous attendance policy, Generous PTO, company dedicated to diversity.

Cons

Pay is lower as company includes all benefits into compensation. HR is terrible, but that is always the case. Interview process is always dragged out and never transparent

4.0
Apr 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It was nice to work there.

Cons

It was sometimes not nice to work there.

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