Shitty management and shitty tech - Software Developer Booking.com Employee Review

1.0
Sep 11, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I met some knowledgeable people here and I learnt a lot from them. They pay well as per Dutch standards.

Cons

There is a long list of cons, most of them are because of incompetent leadership and middle management. At some point in the past, they removed all the team leads and came up with this autonomous team concept, after a year or so they realized that it was a bad move, then they started looking for team leads desperately, so anyone who said that they want to be a team lead became a team lead, they got two days training and done. Here are some of the stories that my colleagues and I experienced first hand: - Feedback process is a joke at this company. An example: one of the managers of software development was giving random annual Performance scores to the developers because she thought that not all developers can perform good, some have to perform badly as well. So no matter how hard you worked through out the year, if your luck is bad then you will get a bad score. For getting promoted, you need to exceed expectations for one year. Oh and not to mention that manager is now a director. - Retaliation is very common in this company. And if you go to HR then be ready for some more retaliation. HR doesn't do anything, except looking pretty. - 25-30% of the employees are on burn out or stress leave. - promotions are random, they are based on feedback. Your colleagues can write anything about you without any examples and management just believes it, without cross checking. It is to screw anyone's career here, just write some lies in the feedback, no one is going to check if there is any truth in them. - Ass kissing all over the place. If you are good at ass kissing then this is the perfect place for you. - the way they conducted the whole layoff procedure is ridiculous, they just did the bare minimum and left the employees jobless. Booking family is a lie.

Explore other reviews about Booking.com

5.0
May 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great, definitely recommend if looking for start up

Cons

No cons all pros only

avatar
Booking.com Response
1w
Hi, thank you for the wonderful feedback! We're so glad to hear that Booking.com has been a great fit for someone with a startup mindset. Our culture of experimentation and innovation is something we're really proud of, and it's great to know it resonates. We hope you continue to thrive here! The Booking.com team
3.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexibility, make your own schedule

Cons

NO learning and development Opportunities for growth often required moving into a different role or team found the compensation to be below market

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