Audible Reviews

Pros

I work on new technologies. My team is constantly spinning up new services and I get to bring in new tech. We’re a subsidiary of Amazon so it comes with all the internal resources, tooling, and AWS infrastructure. I have a great relationship with my boss, mentor, and teammates. Pay and benefits are excellent

Cons

It seems like some of the Amazon culture has started to drift into Audible. There has also been a recent push towards return to office 2 days a week. Some people love it, most don’t

Pros

Overall the company has a good intention to take care of employees. You will learn politics and master it in few months. Harsh lessons will hit you like bricks and you will become tough.

Cons

Not much of technical work is done, mostly routine no-brainer type of work. Credit stealing and nepotism from incompetent managers discourages team and good people run away within in a year or two, completely drained of any last bit of motivation to work. In many instances, incompetent chumcha team members are carefully handpicked for promotion by insecure managers. They speak nicely and appreciate your work but don't do anything meaningful for you. If you are mind your business type of person, odds are you will dread everyday at work.

Pros

Audible is a good company and has good policies for employees. Plan was to have a very long term career. However, Horrendous bias and favoritism. Very toxic work culture, day in day out. It helped me learn the defense against such, and develop a strong mind that is now able to deal with crappy politics ever. Myself and my team shined against all odds, little support from any, peers to own managers. Glad I left in two years after learning what I wanted and found a role aligned with my aspiration. My advice is to leave immediately if there are red flags in your team. It is definitely not going to get better.

Cons

Technically way below industry standards. Not much to learn.

Pros

Compensation is still better than average

Cons

I was lied to repeatedly during the interview process about how lax the office policy was. Now the company is enforcing a strict 2x a week policy with no wiggle room. Previously they were not subject to the Amazon PIP policy/culture but that has now changed to a full fledged endorsement. Have to be good at politicking to keep your job and do well. Tons of process/bureaucracy, difficult to get anything done. Tech is pretty poor considering they are a subsidiary of Amazon. Tons of proprietary tooling that wouldn't be useful anywhere else that is objectively worse than industry standard/open source software.

Pros

Nice office. That's about it.

Cons

-I've worked here for 5 years now. Ever since the new CEO was hired, this company turned into a political cesspool with toxic management. The only people who are rewarded or receive recognition work late nights and on the weekends. If you don't do that or sell your soul to Audible, you'll be micromanaged and have work piled up to your head because your productivity doesn't compare to others. -The whole Hub + Home model makes zero sense. They make a broad, oblivious, and incorrect assumption that every single employee will be more productive in the office, so they adopted (or succumbed) to the Amazon mandate to return to 2 days a week in office. If this company truly cared about work-life balance, they would leave that decision solely up to each employee. It seems like there is split between people who prefer in-office vs. remote work, so wouldn't it be a win-win to let us choose what we want to do? -The real reason the mandate is in place is because of (go figure) money. They have a long lease on the office, put a ton of money into the Cathedral (including a bowling alley that no one uses) and 1 Wash during COVID. They need a threshold of people in the office to chalk up their rent as a business expense and get a tax deduction. -The People Principles are a complete joke at this point. They don't resemble the culture of Audible anymore. There are several internal processes that do not benefit the customer whatsoever. These internal business processes actually limit publishers and content providers from trusting Audible. Leadership intentionally kicks the can down the road relating to "under the hood" improvements in favor of a new paint job on the app. When mistakes go wrong, leadership asks why towards the bottom of the totem pole and puts blame on them. Senior management accepts no responsibility, blames employees for their small mistakes and requests BS COEs instead of making real change or recognizing the hard work they put in each day to keep the business afloat. Meet-free Thursdays are ignored, you get IM'd on nights and weekends for relatively insignificant things that can wait, you have to race into work in the morning because of limited parking...I can't even write everything that's wrong with this company, so please don't interview with them.

Pros

- office is well decorated and the free food is good - amenities offered are great

Cons

- terrible upper management - heavy virtue signaling, fake kindness is rampant. Managers speaking poorly of other managers and employees openly is very common. - upper management is “untouchable” and untrustworthy, beware of sweet words and always get things in writing. - beware of what you share with managers - unwelcoming, a lot of managers and employees alike will speak their native language in meetings and in the office, often leaving non speakers in the dark and needing clarification. Was able to work around this for the most part, but at times felt like i didn’t belong.

Pros

Smart co workers with high levels of professionalism fantastic product offering that you can be proud of Beautiful offices and free lunches (with a variety of options for everyone) fantastic commuter benefits and free parking committed to diversity and inclusion

Cons

Not much. The location of the Newark Hub isn't destination worthy, but its very doable and a somewhat-pleasant break from the city. If you're coming from NYC, it's about a 15-20 minute train commute from New York Penn Station. Remote work kind of slowed down our "move fast to make it real" principle, but it feels like that is a focus area again now that were coming into the office again.

Pros

The people, free food, free parking and decent benefits.

Cons

Harmonization, removal of much needed positions, non competitive salaries, inexperienced leadership, growth potential and lack of work/life balance.

Pros

Great people to work with. Great product. CPO is a good leader and trying to effect change in a positive way, but doesn’t have the right people surrounding him.

Cons

Very poor and inexperienced leadership. Attrition is very very high across all areas of the business. The best people leave which is discouraging and makes building professional relationships near pointless to get the job done. Decisions are made on a whim by some product leaders based on what others are saying internally rather than designing the right solution to solve the customer problem. Hard work and success are not rewarded. Politics rule the game. What has the potential to be a great place to work is in reality dysfunctional. If you get a poor PM leader, expect to work seriously ridiculous hours with no reward for years. If you get a good one, then you have a chance.

Pros

Audible is an amazing product to be able to work on and even better employer to work for. Everyone is valued, is imaginative, and works with the customer at the center of everything they do. The company culture and founding principles are inspired by all of its employees. As an Amazon subsidiary, Audible drives innovation with best-in-class technology, is always raising the bar with its people and product, and is an inclusive environment that I love coming to work at every day. Audible is invested in each employee's career growth and career expansion opportunities as well.

Cons

No major downsides to highlight. Overall a positive experience, competitive compensation, and work-life balance.