Agoda

Agoda’s got some legit strengths that make it stand out, especially if you’re in Thailand. For one, the learning opportunities are solid—there’s a lot of room to grow if you’re proactive. They’ve got a reputation for pulling in some seriously bright folks, at least back in the day.

The pay’s pretty sweet for the local market too, with salaries and long-term incentives that can make you feel like you’re winning compared to other gigs in Thailand. Internationally, though? Eh, it’s more middle of the pack—not terrible, but not blowing anyone away either.

On the tech side, there’s ambition in spades. They aim high with their solutions, which sounds great on paper—big ideas, flashy goals, all the good stuff. But when it comes to execution, things tend to fizzle out, and that’s where the cracks start showing.

Now, let’s talk about the not-so-great stuff, and yeah, buckle up ‘cause there’s some frustration here. Upper management’s got a bit of a clique-y vibe, with a lot of them coming from a Russian-speaking community (however, this has improved a bit in the past few years). Don’t get me wrong, they’re sharp as hell, but integrating them into teams can feel like trying to mix oil and water—sometimes it just doesn’t gel, and that can breed a toxic work culture in spots. It’s not constant, but when it hits, it’s like a punch to the gut.

Worse, management’s obsession with short-term numbers makes fixing tech debt feel like trying to convince a toddler to eat broccoli—they just aren’t interested. That “ship it now, fix it never” mindset leads to a codebase that’s a total mess, like a house of cards waiting to collapse. And the churn rate? Man, developers are jumping ship faster than you can say “stand-up meeting,” which doesn’t exactly help with morale or stability.

And the cherry on top? Management’s genius idea to swap out native features for WebViews. I mean, come on—why would you need a mobile team at all? It’s a head-scratcher that a company with Agoda’s resources can’t churn out a modern, maintainable mobile app. Feels like a missed opportunity, big time.