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Very volatile company. Great benefits. Some teams are great

Staff Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Intuit for 4 years
September 21, 2016
San Diego, California
4.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

The company is very volatile. The company does not have a solid long-term plan. Most of the plans are short-term. The company made a series of bad acquisitions, so they ended up selling those companies. Currently, there are only 3 major products. All these products have reached the ceiling in terms of market capitalization in the domestic market. The only market left is the international market, which is a very dicey thing. There are lay-offs every year, which is probably a good thing, but most of the lay-offs happen not because of bad reviews but because of divestitures, re-organization, and outsourcing jobs to India.

All the flagship products are developed using out-dated technology. Currently, there is a major revamp effort going on, but no matter how much effort they spend, it is going to take at least 5-6 years before they can really benefit from all the investment in tech-refresh. Also, as a result of mainly focusing on refreshing the old tech-stack, there isn't enough emphasis on inventing something new. There are only pockets of groups within the company which are working on cutting-edge technology.

If you are working on old technology, or stable shared services which are in the maintenance phase, tools etc. that are not directly tied to revenue generation, then the chances are higher that you will not get a good bonus or promotion or any sort of career growth.

There are many old-timers in the company who have an old mindset that is hard to change. If you get stuck in such teams, then you will most likely not grow because such teams usually frown upon people who bring radical change. There is a lot of politics.

If you join the company at a low salary bracket, it is almost certain that your salary will be adjusted to your peers. When you realize that there is nothing sort of equal pay for equal work, it can be very frustrating because the difference in the salary can be very huge.

HR does not play an important role in making sure there is good work-life balance across the organization. HR does not have any power at all. The only time I see HR is during recruitment.

Leaders are not technology leaders.

Cons

Great benefits. Salary can be very huge, depending on how you negotiate your initial offer. As a Staff Engineer, I get paid more than 250K in total benefits (Salary+RSU+Bonus). Growth can be drastic if you are in the right group. There are pockets of groups within the company that are extremely smart. Paternity and Maternity leave policy is very generous. Top leaders seem to be honest.

Advice to Management

Be technology leaders. Engage employees in each and every part of your company. Focus on new features and products more than on just tech-refresh. Encourage contribution to open-source technology. Make sure HR gets involved in the continuous well-being of employees. Focus on the work-life balance of employees.

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