Joined for the Culture, Stayed for the Culture - Software Development Engineer Zillow Employee Review

5.0
Sep 3, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Lots of internal growth of employee resource groups in the past couple of years, giving minority groups the ability to build a community and push for a more diverse and inclusive environment - Internal mobility program also allows for personal growth - Great work-life balance with many in management setting the example - Lots of great mentorship opportunities, either as a mentor or a mentee - Benefits are excellent, especially in terms of health insurance - Company handled quarantine awesomely, business looks strong for the foreseeable future - Work-from-home for nearly all employees through the end of 2020, with moves to allow for teams to be more flexible on WFH in 2021 - Volunteering and charity donations are encouraged, and can be matched by the company (up to $100/yr per employee)

Cons

- Like most companies, your direct manager determines how much of the company culture is applied to your day-to-day. Many are great, however, there are certain teams which may be run a bit differently, so work-life balance may not be enforced or modeled by leadership there. - Lots of "happy hours" and drinking alcohol during celebrations. There have been some moves made in the past year to address this, by offering non-alcoholic drinks at functions, and covid has reduced the rest of the events, so there may be changes in the future. - Work-from-home is not work-from-remote, as your compensation is based on where you live. So moving out of CA or WA to the midwest would invoke a salary reduction - Not much diversity in the exec team, even after several years of "addressing it" - Humongous gap in terms of compensation between lowest paid employees and C-suite

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Zillow Response
5y
Glad to hear it. Thanks for taking a moment to let us know how we're doing. - VP, Recruiting

Explore other reviews about Zillow

5.0
Feb 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The posts about AWS culture infiltrating Zillow must be pretty team or person specific, as I've seen nothing but leaders who really care about their teams and the business. Middle managers can often drag down morale and culture - and working remote makes that hard to see/fix. But generally, the culture and support at Zillow is WAY better than any other tech company I've worked at (or heard about from friends). Fully remote with decent benefits and people who generally care about each other is fantastic (and hard to find in today's market). For those complaining about bad culture - I'd suggest you look at another role in another org, you might be pleasantly surprised the ZG people first culture is still strong.

Cons

Fully remote makes it hard to get the right visibility and promotions and ratings are unfortunately tied to whether senior leaders see your work and know who you are. You have to make an effort to be "seen" and that's hard to do remote. The news cycle is noisy with lawsuits, but I think a lot of that is because we're a big name with a big target on our back. A judge just ruled in Zillow's favor, against Compass.

2
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Zillow Response
3mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your review. It’s great to hear that leadership support, flexibility, and a people-first culture have stood out in your experience. We also recognize that visibility and growth can feel different in a remote environment, and feedback like this helps highlight where continued focus and clarity matter. We appreciate you sharing your perspective.
3.0
May 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You can make good money here.

Cons

In sales, job can change often. For example: I was making good money and excelling because I am a relationship Sales person. Then they changed it to where you get the sale, and instead of being able to grow that account via that relationship you just broke into, you have to pass it to an account manager and go back to cold/robo calling. You "book" of business you recive to prospect from is a lottery. I received a book of prospects/accounts that most of the were low income, or senior living properties. They don't have a budget and have a line of renter on a waitlist. No way to convince them to spend money on advertising but you still have the same quota.

2
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Zillow Response
2w
Thank you for sharing such a detailed perspective. We understand that frequent changes to roles, account ownership and business priorities can have a real impact on relationship-building and the day-to-day experience in sales. We’re glad to hear compensation was a positive part of your time at Zillow, and we appreciate you being candid about where the model and structure felt frustrating. Feedback like yours helps us better understand how these changes are experienced across teams as the business evolves.
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