Skype Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Skype

Pros – Great sales managers and fellow employees, very open to new ideas. As long as you are doing your job they will not micromanage you. It is a great place to work.

Cons – Compensation is the only downside to working there..

Current Employee – been working at Skype full-time for more than a year

Pros – Free lunch and fully stocked fridge and snacks.
The health benefits are great!
Office decor is modern and comfortable.

Cons – Long commute from San Francsico.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Skype

Pros – Skype has a nice, new office that is a very comfortable place to work. Snacks and drinks are provided twice a week and have now generally reached the point where they will last through the week. There are recreational activities, such as pool, ping pong, foosball, and basketball. Management attempts to be transparent about the direction of the company.

Cons – Skype has an ingrained culture of distrust between teams and the lack of desire to share knowledge. Projects tend to get over-engineered; that is, they become more complicated than they need to be. It also has the culture of a work-first environment, so if you're looking for a good work-life balance, this is not the place for you. The transparency management shares doesn't seem to line up with what the feeling and rumors are saying.

Advice to Senior Management – Many of the bonuses and gifts are based on a work-to-be-served basis, rather than a work-served basis. Give employees the credit that they deserve when they have worked their tails off to take the company to the next level. Transparency is good, but be honest. Most employees are uncertain about the merger and how it will benefit them. While you reassure us that it will be good, tell us what we get in return. Otherwise, we all think that it's all about Management getting rich.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Skype full-time for more than a year

Pros – Going to work every morning is a delight

Cons – Open office is occasionally noisy

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Skype full-time

Pros – All employees love the product

Cons – Speed can sometimes overtakes quality

Advice to Senior Management – Keep striving for quality improvements that customers will value to keep current in increasingly competitive market

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Skype

Pros – Enormous data to work with

Cons – I cant think of any

Former Employee – worked at Skype full-time

Pros – Cool product, the old Skype people are great, european influence, chance to influence the world

Cons – Disconnected upper management and middle management left to run wild. Too many unconnected kingdoms; geographic distribution wasn't handled well.

Blind application of the letter agile software methodologies without understanding the core principles.

Once Microsoft management took over it descended into a political hell where engineers had very little influence.

Advice to Senior Management – You need to drill down past layers of middle management that are only managing up to fix the real problems that are happening at the execution level.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Skype full-time for more than a year

Pros – Smart people. Travel, additional perks like extra vacation days, possibility to work from home and leave office and finish work later. Free lunch in the office. One of best salaries in Estonia.

Cons – Office is very noisy, especially during scrum standups. Too much burecraucy and too little actual work. Career opportunities, salary and bonsuses are near to impossible with microsoft stack ranking.

Advice to Senior Management – Improve office condition with separate rooms/areas for different teams

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Skype full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Its just the best. You just cant describe it. Every day is special. Cant wait to get back to the office. Coworkers are nice, office is the best, food is super.

Cons – Theres really nothing bad to say. For some it might sound silly but for me who doesnt really like to travel, theres too much traveling needed.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Skype full-time

Pros – Great company to work at, good benefits etc. Working to further a global brand which people value (even if mainly for the freemium product) is satisfying. Genuine attempts continuously made to improve the way the company works, which have had some impact.

Cons – Since 2009, company's owners gave up on the goal of releasing new innovative products to focus on financials. Plenty of scope for work, but not as interesting as many other companies in the space today.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop the archaic central planning/oversight of product teams

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend