Booking.com

Learn about scale and challenges.

Great brand name.

Good relocation rewards to Amsterdam as a developer.

Lots of very good, talented people around.

If you are coming from flexible tech companies, prepare to hate this place in a few months.

It used to be a great place to work, but all the management has changed, and now it is full of non-techies running the show.

Expect things like super strict work timings: 8 hours excluding lunch hours.

Working from home is a luxury only available when your house is on fire, or be prepared to be scrutinized. They don’t believe in people doing their best work at different hours. They were very tight on this as of end of year 2017 and made it super hard to work. You will find many of your colleagues complaining and planning to leave soon.

Mostly micromanagement from middle management is driving this place to the ground. Soon this is turning from a tech company to an online sales front.

There are no such things as perks for working here. The bonus is heavily dependent on your reviews, and this is controlled by the manager in your team, so guess how that goes if you step on the wrong toe or stand for your rights! Not even lunch is free; it’s from your salary!

The tech stack is not something I want to get into; read other reviews.

The pay isn’t competitive in any way with companies of the same scale. Tax is huge if you don’t get the 30 percent ruling. Even then, there are taxes on the house you rent and many others not mentioned anywhere. It’s upwards of 150 EUR for each bill you get from your first paycheck.

You DONT get insurance from Booking.com, so expect to pay a minimum of 100 EURO per person in your family. This price increases exponentially with benefits you add, like dental, maternity, etc. Also, expect at least 350 EUR to be covered by you every year, even if you have insurance on your medical bill.

The more you squeeze, the more the sand slips away.