The greatest company I never want to work for again - Software Engineer Duolingo Employee Review

5.0
6 Jul 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Brilliant coworkers - Fast-paced work - Fun office environment - Generous perks - Mission-driven - Transparent company culture

Cons

- Cliquey - Company culture rewards those who put work above all else (i.e. lack of work-life balance) - Expectations vary wildly between teams - High burnout rate - Insufficient leadership resources (i.e. if you can't deduce what senior management is really looking for, you'll flounder) - Lack of action on known systemic issues - Most of the awesome folks left years ago - Poor communication between teams and management

Explore other reviews about Duolingo

5.0
21 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Mission, smart and kind people, great work, hard working teams focused on results and delivering against an awesome mission. People push themselves and each other to learn and grow. Swarms of smart and creative problem solvers.

Cons

Small number of people are unhappy and instead of leaving they complain. A lot. I think it's like this everywhere but in a smaller company you feel it.

2.0
22 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good culture, great product, strong sense of ownership at all levels

Cons

Senior leadership has not found their rhythm. CEO calls pretty much all the shots. Engineering leadership is often invisible and lacks a cohesive tech strategy. Tech debt runs incredibly hot at this company and it often takes a major outage (did I mention CEO frequently joins the war rooms?) to get anything prioritized.

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