Not much fun anymore - Software Engineer eBay Employee Review

4.0
10 Jan 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

eBay is a good place to learn about running a high-scale Web site, both operations and software-wise. Work environment became much less stressful in the last two years after Lynn left (no 2AM anymore!). There is always some level of satisfaction from fixing the site used by so many users. If you're lucky, you can get to a team with many great engineers. Moving between the teams and advancing career are reasonably easy. And the company generates tons of profit, which makes employees feel more secure.

Cons

Bureaucracy in software engineering is depressing. There's less and less room for engineering experiment, as many attempts would get overwhelmed (or slowed down to a halt) by politics or requirements to prove profitability of ideas. A lot of great engineers left in 2005-2007, and new hires are not of a that great quality. Politic games and pretending that everything works just great affected morale of many engineers. And as you all know, more and more sellers hate changes being done by eBay. It is now difficult to find positive posts about eBay on any blogs... How sad. eBay used to be a wonderful company for customers and employees, I really enjoyed working there.

Explore other reviews about eBay

5.0
2 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It is equivalent to winning the lottery for a dream job.

Cons

Sunday work can be challenging- due to daycare challenges, but ebay supports work/life balance so its not really a con

5.0
27 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work, lots of AI experiments, AI innovation, latest tech stack, Co-workers are very co-operative and helpful. Most AI tools are still unlimited.

Cons

Some teams are over-working due to smaller teams as a result of recent layoffs. Office perks (like catered food, snacks) are dwindling every quarter even though company wants every employee to be 3 days a week in office. Company wants 80 percent code to be generated by AI but no clear guideline how to achieve that.

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