Docusign Software Development Engineer reviews

1.1

3% would recommend to a friend

(4 total reviews)
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Allan Thygesen

Not enough data to show CEO approval

3% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

4 reviews
1.0
Apr 20, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I have to say that DocuSign is a place where you can "coast" and if you aren't bothered by having to follow painful and inefficient SDLC processes, this is the place for you. Perhaps with the stock hitting a big dip, this may be a good time to join, so if you want to "do the work of your lifetime" (namely work 4-5 hours a day and be stifled by an outdated tech stack and ridiculous processes) and have decent comp, then this may be the right opportunity for you.

Cons

Other 1-star reviews have already noted the criticisms around DS' tech stack, processes, and general cultural downturn. I would like to add that one of the main fundamental problems I found in DS engineering is that you are rewarded for "following rules" - meaning how well you follow an inefficient and ineffective process rather is more valued than innovating to make it better for others. Because this type of mentality is rewarded, DS then hires a lot of "expert beginners" - engineers who are just really good at following rules and doing what they are told, as a result almost any mid-level to senior engineer is really just an "expert beginner" rather than the industry standard of having a principal/staff/tech lead that ideally should be solving problems across the entire org rather than being an expert in their own silo. In general, change is something that isn't really embraced, and you get labeled as an underperformer if you try to suggest otherwise. I think it goes to show the type of culture at DS. In my experience, I found that people who "follow rules" really well also get away with being jerks. I think in the past many of these issues were overshadowed by a booming stock price, but now that it has taken a dive, I wonder if these things would ever be addressed. My guess is most likely not anyways.

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Docusign Response
4y
Thanks for sharing your feedback and we have shared your feedback with the HR and Product & Engineering leaders.
1.0
Jan 23, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

DocuSign is very empathetic and provides employees with work life balance emphasis. Releases are also very slow, so there isn't much stress in trying to deliver in a timely manner. DocuSign engineering is also very political - so it is also very easy to dodge work by playing politics. It's a great place if you are looking for a 10-5 job, don't care about technical growth, and make a career out of politicking with other B-player engineers and managers. The stock is also doing well, so you can expect something cushy if you do end up working there.

Cons

As I read through the 5 star reviews from engineering, I can't think of how DocuSign can seriously be a 5-star place from an engineering perspective. The tech stack is severely outdated and everything is monolithic. All the main services have different release cadences which makes it a nightmare to release new features and bug patches in a timely manner. There is also a very silly "change request" form and a "release form" that need to be filled out and ironically are done through the DocuSign product that gate the release process. I found this to be very ineffective, as these forms usually took a long time to be approved, and didn't stop the number of fires and rollbacks on a frequent basis. As another reviewer also has mentioned - DocuSign believes in reinventing the wheel when it comes to tooling. Everything from deployment tools, monitoring, test automation, feature flagging, and other infrastructure was done through poorly written home grown tools. It's a joke how any engineer can grow their technical skills here - personally speaking, I spent more time politicking in meetings than coding, which is why I regret having been at DocuSign for so long. DocuSign engineering also has a culture of blame. Instead of solving problems together, people have this bunker mentality to blame other teams or individuals for fires rather than actually work together to prevent these things from happening. It goes to show how silly this place is. I recommend only coming here if you are looking for work life balance above everything else, if you want to do your engineering career a favor, look elsewhere.

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Docusign Response
5y
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Though yours was a more difficult review to read, we appreciate you sharing your experience. Thank you for also sharing that you find our culture empathetic and that you had a good work/life balance. And yes, we are grateful for our stock performance. We have shared your review with the SVP of Engineering, Tom Casey. One of our priorities is to continually improve our own business processes. So thank you for sharing your detailed perspective on the change request process. We wish you the best in your next adventure.
4.0
Mar 14, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Genuinely collaborative engineering environment, managers understand and encourage work/life balance.

Cons

Compensation was poorly managed for a long time. Management is working on righting the ship but it'll take a while.

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Docusign Response
8y
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Good to hear that you think management is righting the ship.
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