Used to be great, not so much anymore.
Pros
Beautiful campus, talented and diverse coworkers, and plenty of opportunities to work on cutting-edge technology. Benefits are genuinely best-in-class — from healthcare to ESPP — and the company isn’t shy about investing in high-quality engineering tools. There was a time when I was genuinely proud to work here. Under Brad Smith’s leadership, Intuit was a collaborative, supportive environment. Engineers helped each other succeed. Leaders were inspiring, and uplifted their teams. There were regular coding camps, hands-on AWS courses, hackathons, and RedCon twice a year. You were encouraged — even incentivized — to earn certifications like AWS or CISSP. As long as you delivered and found ways to innovate, you were valued. From my start until around 2022, I looked forward to coming in every day. But the culture shifted. The emphasis moved from building and learning to politics, optics, and performance theater. In the last year, it felt like working under a Sword of Damocles — knowing that even high performers could be cut without warning. I wasn’t the only one who felt it.
Cons
PIP Factory. Starting in 2023, Intuit implemented a forced stack-ranking system where managers are required to rate a set percentage of employees as "Does Not Meet Expectations" (DNME). It began at 7%, increased to 8% in 2024, and is now 10% in 2025 — alongside the rollout of a new midyear review cycle, seemingly designed to accelerate exits. The disturbing part? These quotas are mandatory, regardless of team performance. You could receive an "Exceeds Expectations" rating at year-end (even get promoted), then be hit with a DNME at midyear simply because someone has to be slotted into the bottom 10%. No exceptions. Being placed in the DNME bucket triggers a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) — but don’t expect specific goals or coaching. Instead, it's vague directives like “Do more” or “Be more innovative,” with no measurable targets. It’s not a plan to help you improve — it’s a paper trail to justify your exit. Let’s be real: even Stevie Wonder could see what’s going on here. After your PIP... you'll be put on a “performance plan” (2–6 weeks, usually short) and then separated — with no severance. Many are let go just before a large RSU vesting date. Timing is not a coincidence. Buzzword Overload. “Velocity,” “builder culture,” “transformation journey” (lmao) — all Intuit-isms meant to distract from the toxic reality: more work with fewer engineers, because those engineers were pushed out to meet stack rank quotas. Unrealistic expectations. Leadership demands “Velocity” above all else — but quality and sustainability are afterthoughts. It’s all about getting features out the door. “We’ll fix it later” is the unofficial motto. Politics > Performance. Delivering real results — like making systems faster or more efficient — means nothing unless you package it in a flashy deck, assign it a catchy codename, give it a GED-style gallery walk, and make a “capability map” like it’s the second coming of Kubernetes. If your director can’t claim credit or present it, it might as well not exist. Leadership is a clown show. Company town halls are filled with tone-deaf answers about performance management. Meanwhile, Intuit is spending billions on naming rights for a basketball arena in L.A. (where it has no real presence), while laying off employees with no severance.
