Autodesk

Very good work-life balance. People usually just work a few hours every day. The pay is not low but not high either. The company is not customer-facing, and its products have sticky factors. Once the designers start using it, switching to another one is risky and costly, so it is sort of stable. It is still dominating the building industry and the 2D CAD area. I tried a few other 2D softwares; they are far worse than AutoCAD.

The reason why I give it one star is because of three reasons (without them, the company deserves 3 stars):

• When I left the company recently, there was no exit interview. My manager asked HR, but there was no response. The company doesn’t care why you want to leave.

• I worked long enough to earn a sabbatical, which is 6 weeks of paid vacation. I did not get paid for this when I left the company. So, I sent an email to HR asking for this. I did not get any response either.

• Early this year, I had a friend who wanted to partner with Autodesk. So, I sent an email to a senior sales manager asking how to do so. I did not get a response.

Apparently, people working there just want to get paid. They are not passionate. This is the reason why I wanted to leave, too.

Only a few percentages of people are really working hard -- I know a few of them. The rest are just lying in their chairs, sometimes making negative contributions. The company doesn’t pay excellent people enough – a few thousand dollar difference won’t encourage people to work harder and overtime. If you are smart and want to get paid for your contribution, don’t go there.

Not much growth. It is not one of the top three companies in the 3D manufacturing industry. Since going from 2D to 3D is inevitable, it is losing its foundation. When their old customers (designers) retire, the company will suffer.

Pay is okay -- can't compete with the hot companies in the Bay Area. Even startups can beat it. If you just want a job, this is a good company to work with.

AutoCAD is not easy to use.

Designing the correct workflow is not suitable for fresh graduates.

However, the team keeps hiring new graduates as UI designers who have no experience using AutoCAD. This has been done for many years.