Alcohol Culture, beware! They bragged about beer during the interview. - Software Developer Garmin Employee Review

2.0
Jun 19, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The health and retirement benefits are better than average at Garmin. These come from the corporate office in the midwest. My guess is the Maine office would never provide these benefits if it were up to them.

Cons

Constant drinking required to fit in. The company doesn't have any kind of way to recognize a person joining or leaving, or getting promoted, and the engineering group has developed a culture of doing it on their own after work using alcohol. They even boast beer as part of the culture during the interview process. Large groups from Garmin drink together after work, and I am constantly terrified my husband is not going to make it home. He feels that he needs to do it in order to fit in, develop rapport with the other developers, and get promoted. The Yarmouth office is very controlling of employees, including not allowing them to work from home until they were absolutely forced because of Covid. I am filling this out for my husband, who started working at Garmin in Maine over a year ago.

Explore other reviews about Garmin

5.0
Jun 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People are great, work balance is fair and fulfilling

Cons

Not the flashiest benefits like some tech companies have

3.0
Apr 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits and work life balance. It's a good culture and I've never worked at a place where your immediate peers are this helpful and pleasant to work with, even across teams and offices. If you want to just come in and do just what is required for your job and go home with the knowledge you have a stable job, this is the perfect place to work. I'd only recommend working here if you just want a job, but don't care about a career.

Cons

There is poor career advancement, especially if you aren't male. Leadership does not care about leading people. The RTO has made working here less appealing. The excuse that you can't collaborate unless you are in the same building makes no sense when you work with people in 6 different countries. It is about control and appearances, all due to incredibly poor senior leadership strategies. The pay is also low and so is the quality of the software you work on. Leadership likes to talk quality, but they like fast and cheap. They will not support you in actual software quality nor implement changes to improve it. The same issues happen over and over without improvement.

9
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