Erratic leadership, numerous layoffs, used to be great - Software Engineer Automattic Employee Review

1.0
Jul 31, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Established remote work culture, genuinely some of the best people you'll ever work with, tech that is used by millions. Travel is a really cool perk, as is the three month sabbatical at five years. Used to be great, there's hope it could be again.

Cons

Business is stagnating. Growth can feel limited due to tech stack. Salary is average, maybe slightly below average. Erratic leadership, especially the CEO, who was recently judged by an independent committee to have bullied and harassed WordPress community members. He also made a controversial situation on Tumblr worse via a public meltdown. The "Automattic" section of his Wikipedia page literally has more space occupied by controversy than business achievements. Internally, the term "Matt bombs" is common. He's known to be unjustly callous if he takes a personal dislike to someone and dishes out objectively bizarre, out-of-touch, damaging directives. Promotes and surrounds himself with sycophantic yes-men who enable his toxicity. There have been numerous poorly handled layoffs in which people in underrepresented groups were disproportionately affected. The environment is increasingly hostile to underrepresented groups. I've been privy to many misogynistic comments regarding women engineers. Leadership and HR are quick to dismiss valid feedback and avoid accountability. The company is declining as a direct result of poor decisions and direction from senior leadership. ICs are suffering the consequences of those poor decisions. Oh, and we were recently encouraged to leave positive Glassdoor reviews specifically in a bid to cancel out the impact of negative reviews. Again, feedback, no matter how valid, is simply swept under the rug and not taken seriously.

Explore other reviews about Automattic

5.0
Apr 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Thorough and thoughtful onboarding process. Super supportive coworkers. The vast amount of resources to learn is second to none. Leads and mentors proactively check in and offer support constantly. Diversity and inclusion is amazing.

Cons

I do not have any cons at this time.

2.0
Jan 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I had the opportunity to work alongside incredibly smart, talented, and kind colleagues who were always willing to share their knowledge. The role offered diverse and engaging technical challenges working with a wide range of customers, most of whom were pleasant to collaborate with. The company provided excellent health insurance and 401k benefits, which I genuinely appreciated. The yearly travel for team meetups was a highlight. It created valuable opportunities for team building and strengthened relationships across the distributed team.

Cons

While unlimited PTO sounds attractive on paper, in practice it required careful coordination with team capacity and management, making it less flexible than expected. The culture inadvertently encouraged overworking, as people often forgot to actually take time off. Weekend on-call shifts, combined with a small team rotation, created real burnout risk. The most significant issue was the unexpected layoffs, which were extremely disruptive to team morale and productivity. The instability created by constant turnover ultimately became unsustainable and led to my decision to leave the company.

10
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