Expedia Group

Family Friendly Environment.

Very good Work - Life Balance, mostly towards life.

Casual Environment. Jeans, khakis, or T-shirts are fine year-round.

Good Location and easy access to really good food for lunch, etc.

Travel Benefits.

It's always exciting to be part of the Travel Industry and see how people travel.

It's a big corporation, but you can get higher-ups' attention if you have a great idea and are willing to put in the effort to market it.

I joined Expedia about 7 years ago and I was thrilled to be part of such a dynamic travel environment. I really pushed myself on a daily basis to learn something new on the job. After 3 months or so, I became really good at my job, and it was very limited in scope. It took a lot of time to get things done, but it's all to do with business needs and requirements rather than technological challenges.

I was in that role for 3 years, and I moved to a different team, hoping the new team would provide an opportunity to learn and acquire new technical skills. That role didn't provide any opportunity for learning and acquiring new skills. After a year or so, I moved to a different team, and a re-org happened, and I moved to another team.

All these years, my technical skills eroded, and I have to really dig deeper to keep abreast of what's going on in the industry. It's a shame that a full-time job doesn't provide the opportunity for you to innovate and acquire the skills you want.

If you are looking for a role where you want work-life balance and don't care about learning, it's a great place. You just need to be good at getting along with mediocre people. Middle managers and directors have no clue whatsoever about leadership and motivating and leading the team. They are there because they get paid. You don't see a lot of passion among employees.

Our CEO could be the reason for this culture. In the past 10 years, nothing has dramatically changed how Expedia operates. It's very limited in terms of search and book. Still, you do your constrained search of "where, when, and what." If you are just planning a trip and thinking about going somewhere cheap and doing some fun activities, you still have to use Google.

Expedia is a 10 billion dollar company, and our CEO is a key factor for increasing the company value. But I don't think anyone focuses on traveler's experience and is passionate about changing how travelers shop and book. The majority of the focus is on tactical operations: How can we improve this feature, that feature, so we keep the shoppers on the page and book?

One thing I was truly disappointed with is showing ads on the website. When you ask the question, what value do the ads provide for travelers? Most of the times, it's a distraction. You click on an ad you are interested in and spend a few more minutes to complete what you wanted to do. Expedia created an ads team, and they generate a high return on investment. Again, when you ask the question, does that truly enhance the travel experience?

End of the day, it's a 10 billion dollar corporation. The focus is on generating more revenue. If you want a passionate job and you want to be part of a learning and improving community, please don't even consider it. If you want good work-life balance and are okay with maintaining the status quo, this could be a great fit. Good luck with your choices.

Please be passionate about travel.

Ask the question: Does our actions improve traveler experience?

Don't make choices purely based on revenue.

You have a wonderful opportunity to change how the world travels and how they do things. The world will never stop traveling, and you can enhance their experience.