Not as good as it seems.., - Anonymous employee Duolingo Employee Review

2.0
Nov 10, 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A popular company to have on your resume. Some good learning opportunities.

Cons

Very cliquey environment, rewards those that live to work and make Duolingo their entire personality. No work life balance as 3 days in office is very strict. Someone mentioned in prior reviews that it is like the Good Place and show and that is very true. If you're not an Engineer or Director level and higher, the compensation is below market. If you're not based out of HQ, frequent travel required to the Pittsburgh office, which was not disclosed in job description.

Explore other reviews about Duolingo

5.0
May 21, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mission, smart and kind people, great work, hard working teams focused on results and delivering against an awesome mission. People push themselves and each other to learn and grow. Swarms of smart and creative problem solvers.

Cons

Small number of people are unhappy and instead of leaving they complain. A lot. I think it's like this everywhere but in a smaller company you feel it.

2.0
Jun 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good culture, great product, strong sense of ownership at all levels

Cons

Senior leadership has not found their rhythm. CEO calls pretty much all the shots. Engineering leadership is often invisible and lacks a cohesive tech strategy. Tech debt runs incredibly hot at this company and it often takes a major outage (did I mention CEO frequently joins the war rooms?) to get anything prioritized.

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