Come here if you want to end up stressed and depressed - Data enigneer TikTok Employee Review

1.0
Dec 21, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Great quantity and variety of snacks available - Free lunch - Compensation package is above average in the industry - Sponsored business trips overseas - Some colleagues are helpful

Cons

- Culture follows that in China, basically most people work past dinner. Even though team lead says just need to work during working hours, if you leave on time, you will be judged. Moreover, the deadlines make it impossible to "just work within working hours" - OT required on certain days including weekends especially when incidents happen (which is common) - Constantly bombarded by chat messages from humans and bots at all times including at night. In my team, there are alarms set up which will call your personal phone if the alarms are triggered - Deadlines are ridiculously tight or unclear and can change at any moment. Instructions come from the top with little discussion. People are always trying to please the higher management, hence some deadlines can be unreasonable - Unfortunately, I experienced micromanagment. Once, when I went for a 15 mins break, I came back to messages asking me what I was doing and a missed call for something that was not urgent. Was also consistently asked about the status of certain tasks within the day

Explore other reviews about TikTok

5.0
May 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good work life balance, you have to push yourself to grow, great pay, great bonus, good food

Cons

no mentors, no help onboarding

2.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay is level with industry and actual work is somewhat interesting depending on the team you're on

Cons

In my experience, career growth can feel very limited if you are not part of the dominant internal language and cultural network. A significant amount of important context, communication, and decision-making happens in Chinese, which can make non-Chinese-speaking employees feel excluded from key conversations and promotion opportunities. The environment did not feel as inclusive as it should be for a global company. Advancement often felt less tied to performance and more tied to whether you were connected to the right groups or able to operate fluently within the Chinese-speaking side of the organization. Over time, it felt like non-Chinese-speaking employees had fewer long-term career paths and were at risk of being replaced by people who could better fit that internal operating model. Things also move very slowly because employees are often given access only to the bare minimum needed to do their jobs. There is a heavy push toward using AI tools, but in practice it can make it harder to get help from real people. Instead of getting quick support, you often have to spend time going through AI bots or internal tools before getting a useful answer.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All