Toxic culture, no product/market fit, inept leadership - Senior Software Engineer Prudential Employee Review

2.0
Mar 24, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work/life balance. Very WFH friendly. They've tried a few times to bring people back into the office but it never maintains momentum. I think it will be remote friendly until it closes. There are some people who have cushy roles who are in a good spot until Prudential shuts it down. Anyone joining now is jumping into the political fray and won't have as much opportunity to coast.

Cons

Catty and hyper-political. Doesn’t hit its financial goals. 1 profitable quarter out of 13 or so. Even a blind monkey finds a banana sometimes. Senior management has an arrogance that doesn’t match company performance. No urgency to make money because there’s an expectation that parent PRU is always at the ready with a bailout. Everyone works on nonsense projects (rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic) or coasts. Treats customers like trash… the FCC has proposed a rule that would shut down its sketchy lead sales business. It’s not even a very lucrative business practice. Engages in it anyway. Dials up tech complexity without adding business value (to increase the outward appearance of “tech” to dinosaur parent company). No one cares about operational excellence or code cleanliness any more. Tons of simple-to-fix errors that go unfixed. Politically there's no advantage to following best practices. Simmering toxicity. There used to be a no a**holes policy. That’s long gone. Actual quote from Slack, someone talking about a co-worker in Data Science: “he’s literally an idiot I will reach out and see if I can navigate him to the page lol Imma look up what we pay this guy who can’t click though a webpage”. Even the A players and founders couldn't make the business work. They left years ago so the company is now run by B through Z players. The same impossible task with worse people. Engineering management tends to be ICs who were over-promoted / compensated with titles instead of money.

Explore other reviews about Prudential

5.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

best companyy to work for

Cons

a lot of restructuring in organization

3.0
Jul 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Solid benefits package, manageable workload. Can be a comfortable landing spot if you're able to tune out the outdated processes and legacy mindset.

Cons

The company undergoes frequent restructuring, and technical leadership often lacks the depth needed to guide modern engineering decisions. The culture can feel rooted in an older, more traditional mindset, and promising initiatives frequently get stuck in POC hell rather than reaching production. Career progression is also very manager-dependent; the wrong reporting relationship can significantly stall your growth. Overall technical bar is low — if you're trying to sharpen your skills, this environment may hold you back rather than push you forward.

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