senior software engineer

software test engineer

software engineer

technical program manager

staff software engineer

PlayStation

Corporate Security at PSN was great. We had excellent managers, everyone was both friendly and professional, and there was a constant vision for expansion. We performed important tasks, used  a wide range of tools, and worked in a multi-faceted team that was impressive to be a part of. 

A typical day at work varied, in that we were very focused on real-time events. Some days there would be a maddening flurry of activity, and other time it would be flat dead. In between that was valuable experience and knowledge working with and for a group there was a lot to learn from. 

I would say the work/life balance was difficult occasionally because corporate security demands 24-hour attention, but that came with the territory. Job culture was very professional, but the entire staff was well-humored, affable, and helpful. We were a very committed and driven group, and everyone seemed to appreciate everyone.

The downside was compensation. It was middle of road, and compared poorly to the regular employees who performed the same job as us. The same goes for benefits, and because the regular employees are hired into the greater corporate security framework, they had access to a huge ladder to climb. For contractors, the majority of the staff and the majority of the producers, there was almost no upward mobility. The single series of promotions they promoted to us were in-place (you didn't leave the OPS center), and didn't award different duties at all. My entire time there, actually, only one contractor was ever promoted, and that was because of a vacant supervisor position. There were many reasons to make us regular employees, even the manager attested to such, but there was no impetus to on-board the contractors. This led to a great deal of turnover, especially because the position was semi-skilled.

I would think working there again would mean the same solid work, which would be good, but if given other opportunities this position is less rewarding than others.

To be blunt, this is not a place to work unless you have to and you're being compensated heavily, which is atypical. In particular, it is not a place for career advancement. The people who have been there for a while and are remotely young are just happy to say they work there I promise you. It's a global brand, so yes it looks good on a resume, but that would be the only reason I'd work there if I was young. Also, there is little to no diversity, since they classify diversity as anything. It was actually sad to me, since I'm from around the area I looked up to the place growing up but once inside you realize they have no cultural trend awareness. For someone who grew up in a diverse city, I know what it means, but their agenda of hiring is as if they see someone who does not "fit" in as a liability. I remember talking to someone back in Oakland about it I was crushed, not emotional but I know so many brown kids who love this system, and to know the people behind the product are basically trying to monetize them and take advantage of a demographic is disappointing. I hope anyone under 30 takes something away from this, don't look up to this company, yes the product is cool but they don't care about people like you, and to the few people who stuck it out, I wish you the best. 

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has a lot of potential, but it will probably not realize it, as it is mired in politics and bureaucracy.  There are a lot of smart and passionate people and some really good intellectual property (IP), but resources are allocated inefficiently and inconsistently and there is virtually no transparency or accountability.  I believe that a lot of this stems from the differences among Japanese, British and American (Silicon Valley) management styles and expectations.  Japanese expect hierarchical deference and 3 year strategic plans, while Americans are innovative, disruptive and irreverent and the Brits somewhere in between.  So, it is difficult for Japanese management to allow decentralized ideation and data-driven decision-making to flatten the typical power dynamic (which has traditionally helped to maintain and control large organizations like Sony Corp).  So, if you can navigate the personal relationships and be quite patient, you may find success in this culturally-complex global enterprise.  I believe that each culture can learn from the other and the combined result can be a source of competitive advantage, but at this point it just seems like there is a lot of contradiction and misalignment.

Overall the best part of the company are the people who you work with/around.  There are a lot of individuals with a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and experiences, all willing to share that knowledge with those willing to ask.

The largest challenge tends to be in the channels of communication between the various groups, because there are so many people doing so many things, it sometimes becomes difficult to maintain active channels, as the workload of some teams is vastly larger than others.

When you have this many driven people together in a single place, it's not uncommon to see people who are at their paid time off "cap", simply because work still needs to get done, and they may feel there is no one else to take on the 'lion's share' of it.

Up to the point of my leaving the company as part of the reorg/rebranding to SIE, the Executive and Sr. Management team had taken a visible interest in these imbalances and were making efforts to promote a more balanced work/life approach.  However, the nature of the industry, the corporate culture at the time, and the (often intense) personalities of the employees, means things will likely be slow to change, if for no other reason than the drive to excel!

This review is specific only to engineering, which is a minority portion of Playstation HQ workforce.  Overall a pretty good place to work, especially if you prefer comprehensive benefits and low-layoff risk over cash, stock options, or other more immediate or risky forms of compensation or unstable employers.

Promotions come at a plodding rate and are handed out more by tenure rather than performance.  How good you are at your job seems to matter less than showing up every day and keeping your seat warm for years on end.  This is in part a mutually exclusive function of the stability and low-layoff patterns noted above so I don't think it's specifically a bad thing if your career goal is 30-yrs stability followed by retirement.

Playstation HQ has officially relocated to San Mateo but so many decisions still have to go through senior management in Japan.  HQ relocation may have made that worse rather than better -- Playstation used to ride under the radar of senior executives in Japan.  Now that it's become the most successful recent story in Sony, it is reguarly a focus of their crosshairs.

I always try being positive in these reviews however I find it difficult on this one. To give a summary of life at Sony Interactive, don't plan on having one. The mentality around here is that your shift is 10 to 12 hours. You are pressured to stay and no extra compensation is ever given. Nights and weekends are almost always. Projects are not planned properly and often require last minute 'all hands on deck' to get it out and in the end, you get run down and get no personal time. Sony accepts the attrition (and actually plans for it) instead of fixing the underlying issues. 

There is no work from home, there is no work/life balance, the pay is good however it is better at the other companies that do the same type of work. Overall, if you are young and have no family, this may work for you. I you want any personal time I would really consider looking somewhere else as this may really get in the way of your life instead of propel it.

The job was absolutely amazing. You had so much freedom because another person didn't have to take your place if you needed to be out. The benefits were amazing. I got a bonus each year for meeting all of my goals (sometimes doing more than what was asked) that was always around $3000-$4000, after taxes. I made $. 75 per mile driven. 

Only downsides were the fact that you couldn't move up without moving to California to work at HQ and that you had to use your personal vehicle. If you don't have a brand new vehicle, you'll be spending a lot of money fixing it from all the wear and tear. Some reps had to replace windshields multiple times per year, also. 

It really was the best job ever. Unfortunately, as of March 2022,HQ eliminated the entire Field Sales department, so we were all let go and thus position doesn't exist anymore. If they ever bring it back, I guarantee they won't pay as much as they were paying us. 

It was a very relaxed place to work before COVID 19. Everything is work from home now, which makes communication and motivation even harder. The only positives are that you meet great people and get some free games in a relaxed environment. A lot of negatives though: no benefits, it's impossible to get a raise even after proving yourself and working more and harder than others (but then you get stuck to minimum wage), impossible to move into a higher position after YEARS of working unless you do literally the same work as a higher up while you're still at minimum wage (so the motivation isn't worth it to be working way harder than you have to), no choice in the project that you want to work on (and if you don't know any of the higher ups in charge of other titles, then you just get let go because they play favorites). Overall, if you want to make minimum wage and go nowhere, then perfect place to work. Just do the minimum to stay afloat and you'll never be let go.

Really fun, laidback work environment, but opportunities for growth are almost nonexistent. Pay is abysmal, with the justification for poor raises being that everyone else is making just as little as you and they'd feel bad if you were to suddenly make more. If you threaten to leave, no matter how long you've been with the company, they will make no effort at retention or offering a competitive reason to stay. The company suffers as a result of this policy, but has done nothing to change it. Due to the appealing nature of the work being done here, it's easy to get trapped here for years because you like what you do, but you will always be underpaid, underappreciated, and ultimately treated as disposable. 

Sony's tech stack is average, they are not eager to jump on to new technologies.

Advancement is difficult due to management's lack of interest in training nor interest in promoting employees in their interests.

Job is stable since Playstation is doing excellent for the past 5 years.
Steady pay increase and descent bonus based on individual yearly performance.  No equity.

Descent benefits.  The health plan isn't the best and it will come out of your paycheck.  Some companies do pay 100% of the insurance but not Sony Interactive.

It isn't stellar job but its above average, however, if you have passion for technology it isn't the best place for it.

There is also favoritism in the work culture.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior software engineer 227 salaries reported	$214,467 per year
Software test engineer 108 salaries reported	$207,797 per year
Software engineer 28 salaries reported	$161,900 per year
Technical program manager 37 salaries reported	$204,468 per year
Staff software engineer 40 salaries reported	$257,919 per year

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