Great people and benefits, but poor management and location - Anonymous employee Duolingo Employee Review

3.0
18 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. Great, and I mean great people 2. PTO policy very generous and unlimited sick time 3. Pretty flexible hours and the offices themselves are nice. 4. Super good for new grads, do your time for a couple years then move on.

Cons

1. Pittsburgh is the worst city I’ve ever had to live in. If that’s your assigned office good luck trying to transfer. No ability for remote work even temporary for legitimate family reasons. 2. Promos are based on favoritism. If you’re saddled with a bad manager you get a bad review for no reason. If your manager doesn’t like you, they will complain to others on the team about you behind your back.

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 June 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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