Etsy reviews

Compensation is low and Etsy constantly underpays (sometimes as much as <20%) compared to a market rate in major cities. Traditionally the rationale for that would center around "company culture" or the glamor of their office space (for Brooklyn HQ employees), but obviously neither of those are relevant in the current remote situation or thereafter. Likewise, there is a strict "no negotiation" rule amongst HR, which applies to both comp for potential and current employees. The management and overall culture has been getting increasingly top-heavy and corporate over the years, with workloads increasing due to complex bureaucracy and general lack of clear and effective communication. Like another reviewer mentioned, this is a company that prioritizes "nice" over "kind" — managers will admonish you for being direct or honest, especially in front of a larger group. Accountability seems to be a missing factor, especially for managers. It's considered better to keep face and hide information in 1-1s (which is a heavy part of the culture here), even if that stifles communication, growth, or critical information for tracks of work. Within departments, there are many power dynamics at the upper levels, with employees encouraged to be "friends" and work connections rather than to perform as individuals. Again, if you come to Etsy with an independent mindset, a unique background, and an outside-the-box thinking style, you will be disappointed. Strangely enough, many of the colleagues outside of Engineering / Product at Etsy do not have prior tech backgrounds, and often the lack of experience building and understanding software also serves to create inefficient standards and processes. Depending on department, this stifles a lot of creative innovation at the company, and the range of projects that we were once able to touch only inspires further pushback from risk-averse upper management. Much of management seems more concerned with constructing increasingly intricate systems and expectations for folks' roles as opposed to emphasizing more creative and groundbreaking work. For women and trans individuals, you are constantly tone-policed and treated with higher expectations than the norm, which is ironic given the stated values of the company and high level of women in management (although one could note that many of them are merely cis straight white women). Advancement as an IC can be difficult, especially for higher-level ICs. Career ladders are left unfinished for those out of Product / Engineering, and feedback often comes in vaguely worded platitudes based on "values" that are clearly the subjective whims of your manager. Workload has dramatically increased due to COVID, especially in certain departments. ICs have been told that their workload has now doubled permanently, with no increase in headcount. I have seen younger ICs work weeks in excess of 50-70 hours. The company used to mandate company-wide days off at least 1-2x a month but quietly got ride of them as too many people had to work late or on weekends to accommodate them. Overall, this company has changed considerably with each passing year, but seems to be losing a lot of it's edge and soul with time as it matures.

Poor communication from director level management. Lots of turnover in all levels of management. Unable to keep good people because of a tendency to favor culture over skill level. Infrastructure and approach is about 10 years behind. Management seemed to have a lack of experience and/or training.