Valve Corporation Reviews

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

Pros – Amazingly empowering. No management. No red tape. Salaries are above top of the industry. And families come first - work-life balance pretty much couldn't be better. Not constrained by public/outside investment - entirely self-funded, so making customers happy is all we have to worry about. Easy to make an individual contribution that impacts millions of customers in a positive way - every day. Whole company takes everyone to freaking Hawaii (with families) every year - not to work, just to chill out. And so far, things the company doesn't do well have gotten identified and have become the target of concerted redesign and improvement.

It's not the superficial workplace niceties that make Valve awesome - those are a given. It's the substance of the place that is different.

Also, Gaben's beard.

Cons – Not having a boss often makes it hard (at least temporarily) to know whether I'm doing the right thing. Let's see, what else... Company doesn't yet have an office in Hawaii.

Advice to Senior Management – N/a. Maybe I should use this space to advise myself... Uh, use breath mints more often. Remember to smile.

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

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

Pros – You get to work with the smartest people in the industry, you get to take on as much responsibility as you are capable of, you get to directly influence and make decisions about product direction, no on else has the authority to force you into a decision you don't agree with, compensation and benefits are amazing

Cons – You will be held to very high standards, having to take on more responsibility and make higher level product decisions can mean additional pressure/stress vs more narrow roles at other companies

Advice to Senior Management – Keep hiring only the very best and don't let standards slip as the company grows

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

Former Employee – worked at Valve Corporation

Pros – Very good for engineers like myself

Cons – No cons at all, you know yeah, none

Current Employee – been working at Valve Corporation

Pros – good quality of life, and being surrounded by creative people. there are many reasons to work at valve. the standards are pretty high, but they push you and really make you strive for the newest, best thing. there is no formal management structure, and responsibility is given on a competence level or if one asks for it. there is lots of room to try new things, so you feel like you are learning all the time. i have been at valve for many years and found it to be extremely rewarding, both in a business sense and personal one.

Cons – very competitive internally (high standards).

Advice to Senior Management – more insight into what's happening at the company, future plans.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend