Challenging tech problems, big scale - Software Engineering Groupon Employee Review

5.0
Jul 29, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting challenges to apply technology to innovate in the "local" space, we're way more than a "daily deal" company. My colleagues at Groupon are smart, driven, and fun. We're an "agile shop" organized into small feature teams all doing focused work where we are expected to not just deliver software but design and innovate the product. We've just scratched the surface with the systems and products we'll build to achieve our goals and that means lots of opportunities to learn new things and work on different projects, there are new teams forming all the time. Things are getting better and better for engineers, from an employee driven "open transfer" policy (if you want to move teams, find a fit and go for it), per engineer conference/training budget, and regular hack-a-thons everyone is putting effort into making Groupon a great place to be an engineer.

Cons

It's a young company that grew really fast. Lots of things to get better at like making decisions and communicating throughout the organization. With lots of small teams working independently it's tough if you need to coordinate things. It's been a rough year with poor public press and CEO change out.

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5.0
Jan 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Learned a great deal here. My first big guy job and the responsibilities kept me focused and motivated. I grew a lot as a person at Groupon as well

Cons

Not many cons. People are really cool.

1.0
Jul 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Casual dress code. Beautiful office views. Easily the only enjoyable and stable things about the company. Oh and the trauma bonds (shoutout to the wonderful people I closely worked with)!

Cons

Literally everything else. When I was laid off, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and my anxiety faded. That alone says EVERYTHING. In my experience as a recruiter, extending an offer should’ve felt exciting. Here, it almost always felt like I needed to apologize in advance. European leadership decisions were flat out disconnected from the realities of a U.S.-based workforce. Communication was often abrupt and rude (or non-existent), priorities shifted quickly, and stability was nowhere to be found. Also, if you’re not a master of AI, don’t even bother applying because it’s not encouraged, it’s enforced. It’s obvious the CEO wants the company to be as robotic as he is. Additional layoffs are also guaranteed (you can look this up). If you’re desperate for a paycheck or need a short-term resume filler, this could work. But only if you don’t value transparency, respect, or your sanity. You’ll likely find yourself counting down the days because you’ll be set up to fail from the start. So to sum up: if I had a dollar for every time I used to think to myself “I hate it here”, I wouldn’t have to work again.

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