How’s life at Uber currently?

Amazon
txm1!wpi2

Go to company page Amazon

txm1!wpi2
Jun 27, 2020 100 Comments

How’s life at Uber currently? Are people feeling motivated for the next 6 months to a year? Is leadership doing the right things? Are people looking to abandon ship or commit?

Is there a feeling of the “worst” is behind us? Or are people still fearful of the future of the company? Are the legends of terrible culture mostly a myth?

For non Uber folks, say you had an offer in hand at Uber for a SWE with a TC bump, would you consider it? Or is it a wild idea?

TC: 210K
YOE 2.5

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TOP 100 Comments
  • Uber
    DK@uber

    Go to company page Uber

    DK@uber
    Uber is very ORGANIZADO. We have one very big table with everything on it.
    Jun 28, 2020 9
  • Uber
    cs27cb

    Go to company page Uber

    cs27cb
    Did u get an offer? What was it?

    How’s life at Uber currently? Horrible
    motivated? Hell no
    leadership doing the right things? No
    people looking to abandon ship? Half my team voluntarily left right after layoffs
    Is there a feeling of the “worst” is behind us? Hell no
    Are the legends of terrible culture mostly a myth? Our culture was toxic before 2017, perfect in 2018, then went to shit in 2019 since there are layoffs every half now. Most ppl say it's worse than 2017.
    Jun 27, 2020 9
    • Uber
      NP1234

      Go to company page Uber

      NP1234
      Also the only backfills that are being filled are business critical - we aren't just filling whoever leaves and new roles need extra approval. So you'd be relatively safe compared to previous new hires let go that might have been in non critical roles
      Jun 29, 2020
    • Uber
      lolx67

      Go to company page Uber

      lolx67
      Whether you could work on interesting problems or not really depend on the teams. Some people work on interesting problems. Some people work on cleaning up ugly tech debt that would take years of work. In terms of talent, it varies from team to team. It’s definitely not consistent. Culture is generally toxic.
      Jun 29, 2020
  • Uber
    QSNf41

    Go to company page Uber

    QSNf41
    The posts saying that "everyone" is leaving is a bit excessive. That said, having had multiple rounds of layoffs over the 12 months certain does not do much for the morale nor headspace. It does make you want to do a little soul searching as to whether Uber is still the right place for you to be at.

    Layoffs suck, there's no sugarcoating that, even more so for people who are impacted that are on visas. From a certain point of view, it may be worse for those that get to stay because they have to pick up the pieces, keep trying to move forward with the ever present thing in your mind of "will this happen again and when?". At least for those who are let go, they don't have to worry about that since their future with the company is quite concrete.

    Restructures and layoffs will happen wherever you go, its almost inescapable if you plan on being at a big company. If you do happen to be laid off, its a horrible feeling initially but if you're an engineer, its not like you don't have options. Even in times of economic uncertainty, you still have a skillset that is widely sought after. Compared to a lot of other occupations, I feel as though we are quite lucky in that regard.

    I can only go from my own experience, but I'm currently enjoying what I do. I guess I'm fortunate that I'm on a team where I get to drive multiple projects, get to work with really good people on the daily and I feel that my output allows me to influence and provide guidance on projects from other teams and domains.

    For me, I have a mental checklist of what keeps me motivated and happy to continue working at Uber, so far most of the boxes are still checked so I don't feel like I need to leave. I'm sure there will come a day when that will change, but we're not there yet.

    Not everything is positive however. I have some reservations about the direction that leadership wants to take the company. I feel that the decisions they make over the next few months will greatly impact the future of the company. These things are largely out of my control so I tend to just concentrate on the things that I can control and make an impact through there.

    As another post here made reference to, the recent layoffs were partially COVID related and partially something that they've probably wanted to do for a while. If you think about it, you can't consistently lose THAT much money and not make any major changes. I'm somewhat confident that the "worst" is behind us, but there's still a bit to go before things are good or great.

    Culture-wise, perhaps its the people that I work with, but I'd say 99% of my interactions have been positive. There's been a few of instances where I've had to deal with abrasive or confrontational people, but you get that anywhere you go anyway. I had some reservations about the culture before I joined since you hear and read things, I suspect there is an element of truth behind it, but so far I haven't encountered it.

    At the end of the day, there's always going to be an element of risk wherever you go.

    Should you choose to join Uber, you may find that your experience is different, or it could be exactly what people here have commented about. Either way, you are in control of your own destiny, if you join and you don't like it, you will always have the choice to leave, its not like any of us are forced to be there.
    Jun 28, 2020 3
  • New
    spoilery

    New

    spoilery
    My two cents. I was hired in April, and let go in May. My role was in Finance but there were tons of people across departments who also started in April and were let go a month later. Uber is not safe.

    Considering they had to do a drastic move only 2 months into the pandemic, imagine what they will do if the pandemic continues to kill their business 6 months in?
    Jun 27, 2020 6
  • Uber
    jegzx

    Go to company page Uber

    jegzx
    Do not join. Everybody is trying to leave and this place is so political/toxic you won’t get anything innovative done. Your bosses will be too busy getting into pissing contests.
    Jun 28, 2020 3
    • Uber
      ghosttoes

      Go to company page Uber

      ghosttoes
      ^ can confirm. It’s happening across all LOB’s (eats, rides, freight, etc)
      Jun 28, 2020
    • New
      oMac25

      New

      oMac25
      @Uber is eats your main driver right now, didn't you guys also acquire postmates. I'd imagine those food delivery services are the most profitable.
      Sep 2, 2020