Strong technical skills, weak management, high-pressure/fear-based environment - Engineering AppLovin Employee Review

3.0
25 Oct 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. AppLovin is performing very well relative to its competitors. It's good to be on a winning team. 2. The headquarters office in Palo Alto is very nice. Some of the best corporate food I've ever had. 3. They hate time-wasting group meetings. This was one of my favorite aspects of AppLovin culture. 4. Things tend to move fast. Stuff gets done. 5. The stock has gone bonkers in recent months. So that's been great for those who were able to participate. But of course there's no guarantee that will continue.

Cons

1. Lots of layoffs and firings. Constant atmosphere of fear. 2. Disdain for any "soft skills", to an almost absurd extent. Performance management was amateur hour/laughably bad. Example: my boss got an important promotion. I didn't hear about it from anyone in the company. Not even a Slack message. I found out about it when LinkedIn notified me of it. Another example: I was given significant additional responsibilities, and then a few weeks later I was unceremoniously terminated. Very mixed messages. 3. Specializations (engineering, sales, product management) seemed very "siloed" with bad communication and low trust. I understand an engineering organization should emphasize technical skills. 4. Release processes seemed awfully casual for a company of AppLovin's size. Lots of rollbacks and hotfixes and patch releases. There seemed to be a disdain for process. Some of that can be healthy. But you need some structure when operating at AppLovin's scale. 5. Multiple reports of toxic culture from various parts of the company. My experience backs this up.

Explore other reviews about AppLovin

5.0
27 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote Work Salary was fair

Cons

The company cut cost by shutting down their game studios.

3.0
7 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lot of opportunity for impact. Above-median pay. Can get promoted fast if you work hard. CEO is great

Cons

High-pressure environment and poor work-life balance. Roles and priorities can feel unclear, and early on there’s a noticeable amount of politics around scope and advancement. Culture can be toxic. People are often stressed and stretched thin, which leads to passive aggressive communication and blame shifting

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