Booking.com Software Developer reviews

3.7

74% would recommend to a friend

(260 total reviews)
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Glenn Fogel

45% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Software Developer employees have rated Booking.com with 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 260 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Developer professionals have a good working experience there. Booking.com is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Developer professionals compared to other employers within the Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

260 reviews
2.0
Jun 12, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company is really keen on providing a lot of learning opportunities, such as free access to Safari books, Linkedin Learning etc. Also, they host tech events frequently and are open to sendings employees to conferences. Moreover, there are a lot of opportunities for people to get promoted and even change career paths.

Cons

The benefits package and most importantly the salary is far below par. People get low salaries and even when they get promoted they get salary increases that are almost an insult. There is a massive wave of employees that leave the company because of financial reasons, but the company refuses to admit it. On the contrary, they ask for people to “talk to their manager” if they are concerned, as if their manager is allowed to give them the salary they deserve. Also, on another topic, the company claims to “Love straight talking”. Well, apparently they don’t love it that much when the “straight talking” is questioning someone from the higher management. I cannot see how a company can improve when they do not listen to our feedback. Speaking of which... Whenever there is a feeling that unpleasant feedback will be given through a channel, they shut it down or heavily moderate it. Recent examples are deleted Sli.do questions or the “dissapeared” My Voice survey.

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Booking.com Response
8y
Hi and thanks for your review and feedback it is appreciated, as contrary to what you may say in your review, we really do take all feedback on board. I’m glad that you are enjoying the learning opportunities and the career progression that you are getting at BookingGo. As you will have noticed, we have been working hard to create a world class learning offering as well as putting in clear career paths and transparent guidelines on how to progress. With regards to salary and benefits package, it is certainly not true that we have a ‘wave of employees’ leaving us, in fact this year turnover across the business and in Engineering in particular is the lowest that it’s ever been. I like to think that this is in large part down to the work we’ve done on development and progression. We regularly benchmark our salaries externally and are confident that our salaries are competitive. If talking to your manager doesn’t feel right (although I would still encourage you to do this) then you can go and catch up with our CTO in one of the monthly open drop in sessions he now holds in The Beach. On your final points, the Your voice survey hasn’t disappeared, we will be running it in July this year. There are chances to ask questions in the Engineering all hands every month, the all colleague update every quarter, on workplace or to your manager or the people team whenever you would like. I believe that on one occasion some questions on Slido were accidentally archived which we acknowledged at the time, however this was a one off. If you have concerns please raise them in any of the forums above, I can assure you that we are not ‘closing our ears to the concerns of our employees’. Ryan.
1.0
Jun 12, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

lunches. Plenty of different food options from vegan to meat Offices have nice tables

Cons

Be careful! I burnt out there. Two my friends got on 3 month leave because of burnout. Very stressful job! The managers are pushing with micromanagement. They try to control everything. If you care about your health, don't go there. Team leaders say - you need to Exceed Expectations. Remember that. It is a trap. Then an employee works hard on his/her limits. And in the end of the quarter the manager says: "You did not do enough. Next quarter work harder". And when you are already on limits, you get a burnout. The management is cruel and hypocritical. If you say something to them it would be used against you. Be aware that there are "special" people in managers who speak only to each other. All is working on favoritism and personal relationship. Booking makes freaky Friday where employees drinks a lot of alcohol. If you don't go there and drink too much with leadership you won't get promotion. If you don't want to waste you life and good years be aware.

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Booking.com Response
7y
Thanks for sharing this valuable feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with management. We’re currently experiencing growth and evolution. With this, we know that this can place extra pressure on the team, but we are working on changing management capabilities to make sure every employee feels motivated and inspired to do great work. Also, we believe in fair opportunities for everyone – favouritism of any kind goes against our values. No one should feel like they are being passed up for a well-deserved promotion. An employee with good performance reviews is eligible to apply for a promotion after a year in their role, and no manager can deny that application. If you feel that is happening, your HR Business Partner needs to be notified immediately. Feedback like yours is extremely valuable for us and helps us as we grow. We encourage you to directly share these comments and concerns with your HR Business Manager or the confidential ethics & compliance helpline . Many thanks, The People Team at Booking.com
1.0
Apr 29, 2018

Too late...

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It used to be a good place.

Cons

The time has past, the company grew and now it is just yet another corporation. Leadership team gives political answers to important questions. Promotion through favouritism (a.k.a. drinking buddies) is there, in plain sight, and no one dares to say anything fearing retaliation and subsequent lost of their Visas. Well, what do you expect when the last two C-level executives were fired due to the same problem. Although, it is much harder to do anything against mid-level management, since the target on their backs is way smaller, even though this is the level that causes the most damage. Good developers, designers and product owners are forced to leave, since they know their market value and can only waste so much. This problem has been brought over and over again through "all hands" like events. But again, empty and vague answers triumphed. For the time being, there are much better places to work for.

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Booking.com Response
7y
Thank you for this feedback. We value our open, inclusive and supportive workplace. It disappoints us to hear about some of your experiences. For a promotion, any employee who has been in their role for one year with good performance reviews can apply. A manager does not have the ability to refuse any application outside of those cases. If you still feel that your concerns are not being heard, please contact your HR Business Partner or if you prefer complete confidential the ethcs & compliance helpline. It’s important that we hear directly from you so that we can intervene. This helps us ensure that our work environment remains positive, vibrant and welcoming for everyone. Many thanks, The People Team at Booking.com
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