Hit or miss - Software Engineer Optum Employee Review

3.0
Oct 18, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are definitely some interesting projects that you can get involved in. Compensation was competitive, and there is potential to learn. Sometimes the work is straight forward so if you want to keep it simple its possible.

Cons

I was part of the TDP program, and I kinda got lucky in that I was able to do meaningful work. However I heard a lot of people did not end up getting good assignments. I think more than half of my hiring class left after 2 years. As for my department, there was always a push for innovations which sometimes meant working during for free time. Like I got dragged in to build a covid dashboard and I was expected to work evenings and weekends during the lockdown. Personally I did not want to do more work just because we were in stay at home order, and I was told that we have to keep kissing up to the executives. So it made it seem like that we were always on the chopping block which definitely added anxieties. Plus I always heard that layoffs were happening all the time which made our jobs seem less secure...

Explore other reviews about Optum

5.0
Jun 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work from home - no travel

Cons

Pay is not competitive- compared to many

3.0
Jun 4, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some very talented people give so much of themselves to the company, the clients and their co-workers. I work with (and have worked with) some excellent, smart, supportive people.

Cons

Too many layoffs. Upper management is clueless about how the day to day work gets done, what it takes to make certain changes to processes, and how to treat employees. Some are great. Mostly, they just look at numbers. So many of us have been doing our jobs long enough to know what is needed for certain requests. But we don't get a voice. We just have to do it and suck it up. They are firing ('reduction in force') all of the seasoned staff and let the rest deal with the fall-out. So many teams are losing good people but those people are training their off-shore replacements before they are told about being cut. So how is that a reduction in force? It's just a reduction in payroll numbers. Everyone is on edge just waiting for the next axe to fall. And we have to try and learn or teach another role with less experienced people and more work. It's crazy. On milestone anniversaries, they send an email recognition but once the milestone gets to over 15 years, you are a target. Pay and benefits are fine by me. Raises are practically non-existent, even after layoffs and asking employees to take on more responsibility. that's messed up. They talk about work/life balance but that doesn't trickle down to the actual workers who are so stressed they fear for their jobs if they don't do the extra mile. Many of us are just hanging on instead of quitting so we can at least get some severance. Others are actively looking.

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