Micromanager's heaven - Software Engineer Wise Employee Review

1.0
Sep 28, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

As an experienced engineer Wise has a decent technology stack and the product offering is strong across the globe. There is a good bunch of people and some really good perks such as Friday lunches and a yearly paid 3 day party. On the work itself colleagues are usually supportive and should you are in a good team there can be good opportunities to advance one's career by being exposed to interesting problems around scaling a start up business.

Cons

To start with, you work for a company that has little consideration for your well-being. You're constantly overworked with expectations way beyond a 40h week. You're being asked directly that you have to put hours beyond your 9-6pm. Yes you read right, you're being asked to do this directly by your manager. The self-organised autonomous teams mean that there's a poor overall system design where teams are strongly depended on each other. There's no unified planning method so planning across squads is effectively impossible and this has also created a highly selfish culture. You're being constantly micro-managed. Your lead will have a spreadsheet with every task you do and a tickbox next to it, every second counts. You may think this is an exaggeration but please read the rest of the reviews about micro-management. I over looked them prior to joining Wise. A completely misunderstood feedback culture. Feedback culture means that on every mistake or oversight you're going to receive feedback. It also means that there's constant fear about receiving bad feedback and you constantly watch your back. Lastly, you may have received an offer and you're looking at these reviews to make up your mind. The offer is good and you're considering joining. Pension is a joke at 5% and the rest of the package is poor compared to other fintechs.

Explore other reviews about Wise

5.0
Mar 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

flexible review pay lots of feedback

Cons

repetitive long hours can be frustrating no sponsorship for visa

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Wise Response
2mo
Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We’re pleased to hear that you appreciate the flexibility, benefits and culture. We hope you continue enjoying your experience at Wise.
1.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good PTO, and friendly Wisers.

Cons

Management is totally micromanagement, and the People team does not advocate for employees; they appear present only in name. If I were in Kristo’s position, I would conduct a thorough top-to-bottom review of the entire HR department of U.S., and replace all of them. If over 70% of the Austin team would never recommend this workplace, it is a significant warning sign that needs to be addressed.

3
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