Speed of light - Senior Systems Software Engineer NVIDIA Employee Review

4.0
Jan 22, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* The company dreams big and is unafraid to jump off the deep end when there's an opportunity * Rare to encounter anyone who is "phoning it in"; very efficient workplace and dedicated colleagues * Execution speed is admirably fast; I'd be surprised if any peer company (e.g. Intel/AMD/Qualcomm) can deliver new products at NVIDIA schedules * Flat hierarchy - titles are generally private, and authority comes from earned respect. The company is still small enough for individual contributors to get recognition from the top. * Every year the company has improved and dealt with problems and deficiencies employees have brought up.

Cons

* Global offices and round-the-clock handoff means the work day never ends. It's only possible to unplug if you force yourself to, as there will always be more work than time. * Constant feeling of being understaffed, even if that may not be accurate. Work is not always load-balanced well. * Many teams appear to pile on a lot of technical debt and are unable to staff internal improvements. * "Speed of light" schedules sometimes forget to account that we're not in a vacuum :) * Used to be behind in perks, but that is improving, e.g. shuttle services. Food is slowly improving, although costs unlike some peer companies, and dinner food quality is awful. No snack options besides some antiquated vending machines. * Conf call + webex setup feels antiquated. Behind on communications technologies, which is challenging when dealing with a global team. Progress is being made but it's slow. * Underinvestment in social aspects: Rare for teams to ever go out or do team-building activities. Celebrations are rare. Alcohol-free campus dampens any relaxed communication. No holiday party (community service is the replacement, which is admirable, but can't think of why we can't do both...)

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5.0
Jul 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Management is competent and actually cares about employee welfare. Jensen is the least sociopathic CEO I've ever worked under. The work has been interesting and I was actually allowed to do things right, and not just "right now".

Cons

The company is 3X the size it was when I joined, with all the usual problems of massive growth. And of course the AI hype at Nvidia is intense.

5.0
Jun 30, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

NVIDIA's PTO and Sick policies are compassionate and generous. Managers listen to employees' ideas. Employees get to work on a wider variety of projects than expected, and usually work closely with other teams to get things done. Collaboration is tight almost all of the time.

Cons

Employees don't always get insight into why they were assigned a particular project, or have much if any choice about what projects they get to work on. Managers are often too busy working on projects themselves to have the free time to meet with employees on a regular basis. This leads to short-term, reactive thinking rather than long-term visionary thinking.

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