eBay Reviews

Pros

Good salary
Get a chance to work with other teams, build your network, know the process etc

Cons

Reduce Middle level managements... There are 100's of Managers and equal no of directors and VP's. Organization should be more technical oriented and give more power to Software Engineer (MTS - level N to Junior Engineer) rather than Manager. Manager is more of people manager and he becomes hurdle rather than removing them. Groups, Individuals think of their benefit before eBay's benifit.

Advice to Senior Management

Talk to Engineers and get their honest feedback. Engineers when they submit 360 deg ... they are not sure if they will be confidential. Reduce layers in decision making.

Pros

- Good benefits package (including 401K match)
- Good onsite activities; innovation fairs, contests, gym classes, etc
- You work with a lot of smart people
- Interesting challenges, always something new to try
- Good brand recognition, ability to learn more about business development
- Opportunities for lateral movement
- Decent work/life balance (but you have to be your own advocate)

Cons

- There is an extreme amount of turnover at both management and individual contributor level. Management doesn't appear to be asking the right questions at exit interviews. Since most people always get more money when they change jobs, ask about the deeper reasons. It's hard to be committed to your team and to stay positive when you see your team manager(s) and teammate(s) leaving.
- Lack of clear, consistent direction from senior management. The team you join will likely not be the same team you're on in 12 months.
- Limited opportunities for upward advancement.
- If you have a great idea, it will likely get diluted by many, many cooks in the kitchen.

Advice to Senior Management

Please be committed to growing your employees and communicating openly and effectively.
Pay attention to turnover--the job market is now a buyers market. Don't assume people will continue to stay "because they have to".

Pros

Free bagels on Wednesdays
Casual dress culture

Cons

Impossible to get promoted in black-box, popularity-based system. No raises for most people for at least the last 3 years. Stock price has until very recently been in the toilet, so equity comp isn't worth that much. Stingy maternity benefits barely beyond what the state mandates. And managers are TERRIBLE. Managers aren't evaluated on how well / poorly they manage others, aren't required to have any training, and have complete control over the course of their direct reports' evaluations and progress. If you have the bad luck of getting a bad manager, watch out - the best thing to do is to leave the company (seriously, this is the advice I've heard Sr. Directors give other people). Which is, ironically, also the best way to get promoted.

People aren't valued, so there's no effort to develop or retain individuals. eBay has been struggling as a company for years, so management frequently re-orgs trying to do better; people who end up in jobs they never asked for aren't helped. Managers don't care about what people ultimately want to get out of their jobs, but they also don't care when people naturally decide to leave. This would be easier to stomach if there was a harder-edged culture, but it's a very consensus-based, be-nice-to-everyone, slow-paced appearance. Managers fake concern, but they only care about themselves.

eBay Marketplaces is a cool place conceptually to work, but the experience is a slow death every day....you don't want to work there, but it does beat unemployment.

Advice to Senior Management

The VPs and Sr Directors who have joined eBay in the last 2-3 years are trying to turn things around, which is promising. Evaluate those who've been there longer - there are some real snakes in the grass and incompetents masquerading about who will let their people fail rather than intervene. And all of them need to be held to higher leadership and management standards. Measure people fairly and transparently. Flatten the org structure so "managers" have at least 3 direct reports. Care about people, or phase out the fake-caring pseudo-culture.

Pros

*good place to learn about the eCommerce business as well as Technical know how in Java/J2EE technologies.
* good benefits package
* mobile teams are set for defining future

Cons

Highly political environment. to succeed, it is more like who you know than what you did.

The Testing Org needs a major overhaul - Resources are never allocated on time for critical projects (there is never enough budget mysteriously, as the Org keeps getting Top-Heavy!), stressing the entire team! This is not the place for top talent!

Too much stress - avg QA/QE Tester works late nights and weekends to make up for bad decisions made in the mgmt chain, making it hard to recommend this company to top talent.

Promotions to deserving employees are delayed, resulting in avoidable attrition.

Advice to Senior Management

- analyze the wave of attrition and do meaningful anonymous exit interviews.

- Hire more people who actually do the work, especially in Testing (QA) org, instead of more & more middle & top management.

- spend more money on promoting deserving Individual contributors!

Pros

The people there are great. Many of my ex-coworkers are my friends now.

Cons

Too many meetings and pay is average.

Pros

they pay great, they treat everyone equally, they work with you to improve yourself instead of just firing you. yea.

Cons

trying to get time off is a little difficult. they go by the rules and not by particular circumstance. yea.

Advice to Senior Management

be more lenient on reasons why ppl have to leave work or miss work. that's pretty much it, everything else it pretty good.

Pros

Good benefits
Good work-life balance
Lot of companies within the eBay family (Paypal, Stubhub etc.) - so internal transfers are possible

Cons

Low salary
Lot of red tape

Pros

eBay is a great company. I have learned so much in such a short period. Managers and executives are all very encouraging.

Cons

I worked in the technical side in eBay, so I have to cram all the acronym people used in order to fully understand what is going on in the meeting and my tasks.

Advice to Senior Management

Not much. People are great! I really love working there. Managers are very willing to let me follow them for a few days and to decide which department I want to stay in.

Pros

Brand name recognition
Interesting problems to solve

Cons

Nonexistent work-life balance
Inconsistent management
Long hours

Pros

Fun culture, sweet gym & benefits

Cons

Low Pay compared to Google, Facebook, Netflix

Advice to Senior Management

Don't pay 3 Billion for a product without the rights to the technology