Is Airbnb still an exciting place to work?

Uber
lWDf73

Go to company page Uber

lWDf73
Sep 12, 2017 35 Comments

Recently went through the loop and got offered a lead position on the payments team. Airbnb is hyped up to be one of the biggest pre-ipo companies and the people i met seem to be generally happy but i dont quite see the engineering excitement and complexity though, curious to hear what you guys think.

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TOP 35 Comments
  • PayPal
    iPhoneX

    Go to company page PayPal

    iPhoneX
    Seems like a good place if you want work life balance. Engineering problems? Yeah not so much.

    Source: was offered an L5 position there not too long ago.
    Sep 12, 2017 7
  • PayPal
    kos637

    Go to company page PayPal

    kos637
    There's no complexity in their payments. Don't join payments unless it's a payments company. But don't join PayPal either, if you need engineering excitement.
    Sep 12, 2017 1
    • Uber / Eng
      budf

      Go to company page Uber Eng

      budf
      Uber is doing exciting stuff in payments, but most payments development is done out of the Amsterdam office.
      Sep 14, 2017
  • Square
    ☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️

    Go to company page Square

    ☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️
    The critical need for Airbnb is regulatory, not engineering
    Sep 12, 2017 3
    • Airbnb
      fOem61x

      Go to company page Airbnb

      fOem61x
      We are honestly fine as far as regs go. The big cities have realized they can tax us and we're cool with that. The small towns have realized we make jobs for residents and bring money to the town. Our homes business is crazy profitable, so our critical need right now is to branch out to other businesses in the same way Uber branched out to UberEATS.
      Sep 14, 2017
    • Airbnb
      aImond

      Go to company page Airbnb

      aImond
      Most of the legislation is being funded and lobbied by big hotel companies, just like Uber faced with taxi companies.
      Sep 14, 2017
  • Airbnb
    Haxx

    Go to company page Airbnb

    Haxx
    In payments specifically, yes there is huge technical complexity, I wouldn't trust the opinion of people outside of the company on that. Not sure what you mean by "engineering excitement".

    I would suggest talking to your would-be manager about the technical complexity involved in payments there, it's not what you would expect.
    Sep 12, 2017 1
    • Airbnb
      fOem61x

      Go to company page Airbnb

      fOem61x
      I guess it's easy for them to reconcile a transaction in 3 different currencies, split across multiple payees and a coupon, held in escrow for 6 months, and then paid out two two parties in different states each with their own federal, state, and municipal tax withholdings.
      Sep 14, 2017
  • Uber
    5)68;

    Go to company page Uber

    5)68;
    Airbnb will make it potentially harder to land the next gig because you won't solve many interesting eng problem. You will be obsolete like they say for the dated it guys
    Sep 14, 2017 4
    • Uber / Eng
      budf

      Go to company page Uber Eng

      budf
      I'm familiar with both. Depending on the problem space, engineering challenges at Uber are one to two orders of magnitude greater at Uber.
      Sep 14, 2017
    • Uber
      J6;:

      Go to company page Uber

      J6;:
      Basically you rest and vest at airbnb? Not gaining experience
      Sep 16, 2017